I Should Tell You
by ACastleOnACloud
Summary: It's been almost a year since the staff baseball game. Chad and Ryan have barely seen each other since then, both having gone back to their old cliques. But when Chad starts to realize his feelings for Ryan, what will happen? Chyan Chad and Ryan.
1. My Defenses Are Down

**A/N: **Wow...the first chapter of my first fanfic…This feels kind of special. Anyway, seeing as it's my first try, please excuse any errors I may make. I hope you all like it, and I'd really appreciate it if you reviewed it, seeing as I would like to know how I could make my writing better. Anyways, enjoy!

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter One

Chad Danforth grinned widely as he and his teammates left the gym, hurrying off to the locker rooms to go change. He caught up with his best friend, Troy Bolton, who was at the head of the charging mob of basketball players rushing off to the showers. "Good game, Troy." He said as he nudged his best friend playfully in the ribs.

"Right back at you, Chad." Troy grinned back, and shook his head of exquisite hair. He was as sweaty as Chad was from the practice; Coach did not go easy on him, even though he WAS his father. Troy earned his position as Captain of the basketball team through his own hard work. Basketball was always first on Troy's mind, except for Gabriella, and occasionally the musical that he happened to be in.

Chad really didn't understand Troy's newfound talent in show business. Sure, his friend was an excellent singer and he did love performing with his girlfriend Gabriella, and sure, Chad supported his best friend, just because he knew Troy needed his friends support and as long as it didn't affect Troy's basketball skills, Chad was fine with it. He just didn't understand it. And the last thing Chad needed was for Troy to turn in an Evans, which he almost did last summer.

_Be fair_. Chad mentally admonished himself. _I mean, Troy did apologize to all of us for being such a jerk, and he did make it up to us later. And still…being an Evans doesn't exactly make you a terrible person. I mean, Ryan Evans turned out to be a cool person, didn't he? You never knew he could play baseball like that…or that his dancing wasn't totally geeky…I mean, when he danced he was almost…Sexy._

Chad gasped in horror, did he really just think that to himself? Was he mad? He wasn't even _gay _in the first place, he had a girlfriend, didn't he? And Taylor was smart, pretty, and in her own way, very attractive. And he certainly didn't have any thoughts about guys in _that_ way. And even if he was gay, he certainly wouldn't go for the Drama King, Ryan Evans. They barely knew each other. Chad had gotten pretty close to Ryan over the summer, but once school started, everything pretty much went back to normal. Except for minor things, like Troy singing and Zeke baking, the cliques still stuck together. Chad sat with the jocks at lunch, Ryan sat with Sharpay on the top level of the cafeteria, looking down on the rest of the school with the drama nerds. They barely talked anymore, except for brief acknowledgement in the hallways. Chad sometimes felt a twinge of regret for the loss of what could have been a great friendship, but he didn't dwell on it too often. So why these thoughts now?

Troy looked at his best friend, an odd look in his beautiful blue eyes. "Um..Chad, did you just gasp? You alright dude?" He asked worriedly, wondering if Chad was sick, or just overexerted from the practice they had just had. A big game was coming up next week, so the Coach was pushing them all a little hard, but perhaps Chad hadn't been feeling that well in the first place.

"Huh? Did I?" Chad asked, looking a bit distant. "Nah, I'm fine Troy. Just a bit tired that's all. And I remembered I have a ton of homework when I get home that I need to work on." He muttered half heartedly.

Troy almost laughed, but stopped himself in time. He did let out a soft chuckle, however. "You? Worried about homework? Since when?" He joked. "I thought the famous Chad Danforth had been behind on his homework since preschool. So why the sudden worry?" He asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Chad let out a laugh as well, though it sounded a bit forced. "Uh, yea…But still…I mean, it isn't that good to be so behind in class, is it? I still need to go to college, and I won't get a scholarship with my grades, even if I do play basketball really well. I think I'm just going to go home, ok?"

Now Troy was worried. Chad never went home directly after a game, unless it was a matter of life or death. And homework to Chad was _never_ a matter of life or death. To him it was just a brief annoyance that needed to be procrastinated as long as was possible. He always went back to the lockers and channeled the team spirit until they were all shouting, "What team? WILDCATS!". Chad was the life and spirit of the team. So why was he heading home without saying goodbye to the team? Troy frowned as he watched his friend walk away. _What is __**up**__ with him? _Troy wondered, resuming his walk to the boys' showers.

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Ryan Evans rolled his eyes as his sister made them practice the song for their audition once again. This had to be the fifth time today they were rehearsing it. And the audition wasn't for another week. Sure, Sharpay Evans may have gotten a bit nicer after the summer, after Troy quit her talent show because she had been mistreating his friends. From then on, she had tried to think about others before herself, but old habits died hard, and for all her attempts, she still came off as selfish and conceited. And she still liked winning, which is why she was not going to let Gabriella upstage her in this musical.

"Ryan!" She snapped angrily, her blood heating up as her competitive streak all Evans seemed to possess flared, "That kind of thinking was what lost us the lead in the Winter Musicale last year. I will not accept losing the lead to that Einsteinette again. Now come _on._" She tossed her mane of blonde hair and got into the beginning position of their number.

"I'm tired Shar." He said in what he hoped was a bored voice. He was tired, but that wasn't the real reason he didn't feel like dancing. The real reason was that he was feeling a bit down this week. Even though it had been almost a whole school year ago, he couldn't help missing his friendship with Chad Danforth. They had barely seen each other the whole school year. Ryan supposed this was partly his fault, he had separated himself by sitting at the Drama table again, but he couldn't find the courage to sit with the jocks. He had hoped that the jocks would invite him to sit with them, but they never did, and eventually Ryan gave up hoping.

The truth was, Ryan was in love with Chad. He had never really felt anything but contempt for the jock until last summer, when the baseball game happened. Chad had given him a chance, and agreed to let Ryan teach him to dance. Ryan could feel sparks fly between them during the game, and it thrilled him. He felt accepted…he felt part of a team for once. He had never felt that before. Afterwards, when Chad insisted they switch hats and shirts, Ryan had fallen for the boy hard, seeing what a kind, caring, enthusiastic boy lay under the tough exterior. They had gotten so close…but when the summer ended, so did their friendship.

Sharpay glared at her brother, then seeing his expression, her gaze softened. "You're thinking about Chad, aren't you?" She asked gently. Ryan had only come out to her and their parents, and the whole family was fine with it. He hadn't officially come out to the whole school yet, but it was widely assumed Ryan Evans was gay. He was in theater, he wore a lot of pink, he coordinated his outfit, and he always wore those hats. Your stereotypical homosexual.

Ryan nodded sadly, his face taking on a sour expression. "Look Shar. I _really_ don't feel like rehearsing anymore. Can we please just stop now? I really want to get some alone time and think about things." He sighed forlornly. He really missed all the Wildcats, not just Chad, though he did miss Chad the most. But he missed Gabriella and Taylor, who had taken him in and made him their friend after Sharpay had ditched him for Troy.

"Well…alright Ry. If that's what you want." Sharpay added softly, knowing how her brother was hurting right now. She had felt like that when she was crushing on Troy, but it had to be worse for Ryan, seeing as it seemed how he had absolutely no chance with Chad. Chad wasn't even gay, and if he was, he did a great job hiding it. "Just..try not to dwell on it too much, alright?" And with that, she bounced out of the room.

Ryan sighed and leaned back on his chair, brushing his blonde hair behind his ear as he stared at the ceiling. _Why did things have to turn out this way? I'm beginning to wish I had never gone to that staff baseball game._


	2. It's the Bitch of Living

**A/N: **Hello once again! Chapter Two is up, as requested. Thank you to everyone why reviewed my first chapter, and who added this story to their story alerts! It really inspired me to write this quicker, and I'm glad so many people appreciate my work. I will try to update this story as often as I can, if I'm not too busy with schoolwork. Anyways, enjoy chapter two!

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment. The title of this story also does not belong to me, but to Rent.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter Two

_Brrrriiiiiiiiiiiinnnnng. _Chad Danforth brought his fist down on the "Snooze" button, almost breaking his alarm clock. Chad didn't really know his own strength, especially not when he was half asleep. Chad was not a morning person by any accounts. He was the type who could be up for hours and still not be properly awake, sometimes dozing off in class, dreaming of himself winning the next basketball game.

Not that Chad really forced himself to try and stay awake and focus on his lessons. He wasn't really an academic person, to say the least. But at least he wasn't failing any classes, right? He always had the Wildcat team to help him whenever he got too behind, and since he started dating Taylor, he had access to her brain, which he used to soar through his math and science classes.

He drifted back into sleep until five short minutes later, his mother came into his room, yelling at the top of her lungs. "CHAD DANFORTH!" She boomed, aware that her son would not respond to anything less than her full military belt.

"Ah!" Chad yelped at the sudden interruption to his dreams. _Which held NO thoughts of ANY blonde whatsoever, _Chad thought with satisfaction. Though Ryan Evans had occupied his thoughts for most of last night, he had finally managed to force the Drama King to the back of his mind, where he was most likely doing some stupid dance, or whatever Ryan did when Chad was definitely _not_ thinking about him. And, proud of himself for getting all homosexual thoughts out of his head, Chad assumed an expression of extreme smugness.

"What do you look so pleased about?" His mother snapped, taking her sons arm and attempting to drag him out of bed, which was quite a feat, as Chad was very heavy from all that muscle weight. He, of course, wouldn't admit to having any fat from stuffing himself with food all day. "Unless you think that being a lazy bum is an accomplishment! Now get _up_ Chad, or you'll be late! I won't tolerate another call from Ms. Darbus complaining about you in class again." Chad's mother spoke harshly to him, but in reality, she loved her son very much, even if he was a bit hard to control in classes, and even if he wasn't a fan of The Phantom of the Opera.

"'lright, 'm up." He muttered, stretching like a dog that had just woken up before pulling on a t-shirt with the phrase "I'm A Hoops Dude" on it, and searching for a pair of pants on his messy bedroom floor.

"And Chad, how many times do I have to tell you to clean up your room?" Mrs. Danforth asked, thoroughly exasperated. "Well, hurry up, because your breakfast is getting cold. I made you eggs and toast, so go eat it! God knows you need all the energy you can get in the mornings." She said, leaving the room and her struggling son in her wake.

As soon as Chad was ready to go downstairs, all his clothes on and his bag packed (though he never bothered to brush his hair anymore, he broke the last two combs that he had used), he ran down the stairs and entered the kitchen. His breakfast was still on the table, so he went to the fridge and opened it, repressing a shudder of repulsion at the picture of Michael Crawford and grabbing the carton of orange juice quickly, slamming the fridge door shut quickly. He didn't understand his mother's obsession with the man, and it scared him that she actually kept a picture of Michael Crawford in their fridge.

Pouring the juice in a glass and finally sitting down to eat, he shoveled his breakfast down his gullet as fast as he could, chugged his juice, and slung his backpack over his shoulder as he saw the bright yellow of the school bus coming down his street. "See you later Mom!" He called over his shoulder. She shouted a reply, but he didn't really hear what she had said. He waited impatiently as the bus pulled to a stop, and ran in once its doors opened.

"Chad!" There was instantaneous greeting from everyone already on the bus. Chad grinned, it was good to be a jock, because it meant that everyone automatically wanted to be your friend, excluding the Evan twins, who were just too cocky for their own good. Not that Chad was conceited, or shallow enough to think that everyone who wanted to know him to increase their own social status actually liked him, but it made him feel wanted, and needed, and that was always a feeling Chad enjoyed.

Chad felt his eyes scan the bus quickly, not for Troy, but for Ryan. _Stop that! You know he isn't here, he doesn't even take the school bus. He and Sharpay always come in the chauffeur driven limo._

"Chad!" Troy Bolton waved to the curly hair boy, indicating in the air there was an empty seat he had saved for his best friend.

Chad's eyes snapped back into focus, he had hardly realized he'd been drifting out of reality, and grinned, making his way through the crowded, hot bus to his best friend's side.

"You feeling okay Chad?" Troy asked as he scooted over to the window seat so Chad wouldn't have to climb over him.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be feeling all right?" Chad as impatiently, pulling his basketball out from his backpack and spinning it on one finger.

"I dunno…You just seemed a bit off yesterday, so I was wondering if you were feeling alright." Troy said, shrugging as if he didn't really care. Chad would just laugh at him if he thought Troy was worrying too much.

"Oh yea…well you know. I was just feeling a bit tired, that's all." Chad said distractedly, he didn't really want Troy to inquire about the way he was feeling yesterday. He might figure out the real reason, and while Chad didn't really believe that his thoughts yesterday meant anything, he didn't want Troy discovering he was having_ those_ thoughts about Ryan Evans.

"You know you missed out on your date with Taylor? You didn't even call her to cancel." Troy said seriously. "She called you, but apparently you weren't answering. So she called me to complain about it. She waited for you for an hour, dude. She was seriously pissed off."

"Oh SHIT!" Chad swore, making an obscene gesture with his hand as he realized he had totally blown off Taylor. Not that he had meant to, but still, he hadn't even remembered to call! _Damn Ryan Evans…If I had been focused on what was important in my life, instead of having the weirdest thoughts about Hat Boy…_ "She's gonna KILL me Troy! What should I do? I'm going to get my ass handed to me on a plate!" Chad said, panicking, a look of horror spreading across his handsome features.

Troy shrugged. "Hey, don't ask me to get involved! Taylor would rip me to shred too, and then I'd get an earful from Gabriella about getting involved with her best friend's relationship when Taylor deserved her vengeance on you." He grinned, knowing his best friend was in for it.

Chad groaned, resting his head in his free hand, while he continued to spin the basketball on his finger. "Today is going to be a long day." He grumbled. And as if the heavens were sending a sign to prove him correct, the basketball flew off his fingers, and hitting Martha Cox, who was in the seat in front of them, in the head. He grimaced, and apologized fervently, while trying to block out her reprimands about how you shouldn't play basketball on the bus.

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Chad sighed as he settled into his seat for homeroom, right next to Troy. Thankfully, Troy had decided to sit in the back of the room today, which was a blessing, because the Evan twins always sat in the front center of the room. Chad supposed it made the feel like they were the center of attention, which appealed to Sharpay's ego. And he was grateful for this, because he didn't want to be anywhere near Ryan Evans. Not that he ever saw Evans anymore, but he wasn't taking any chances today.

Unfortunately, they all had Mrs. Darbus for homeroom again this year. Chad assumed they'd have her for the rest of their high school experience, but he could always dream of a fun, basketball loving teacher instead of an uptight theater maniac who had a strange, almost vengeful, hate of cellphones. Anytime a cellphone rang, she would act as if the phone had just uttered a disgusting curse word at her, instead of merely making a noise.

And as it so happened, someone's cellphone rang this morning. Hurriedly, everyone whipped out their phones, nobody sure if it was their phone ringing or someone else's. Troy, Sharpay, Chad, Gabriella, and Ryan all whipped out their phones, as well as Martha, Zeke, and Jason. Kelsi and Taylor were safe, having the good sense to put their phones on vibrate so they would never mistake anyone else's phone ringing for their own.

Ms. Darbus went around the room hurriedly, snatching cellphones from anyone who had them out and dumping them in her own personal cellphone bucket she kept under her desk.

"Detention for you, Miss Montez, and you, Mr. and Miss Evans, and you, Mr. Bolton, and you too, Mr. Danforth." Chad grumbled, then froze. He just realized the implications of that statement. He'd have to spend a whole detention in the same room as…Ryan. He gulped, nervous, and buried his head under his arms, banging his head on the desk. _Fuck, fuck, fuck. _He mentally cursed himself for his idiocy. _Well, at least Troy will be there…and Taylor isn't going to be there, so she can't catch me to scream at me there. I've been doing a pretty good job of avoiding her and Ryan, but how long can this go on?_

He sigh, ignoring the classes stares, (which included Ryan Evan's, though Chad didn't notice this), and just stared blankly at the front of the room, dreading the rest of the day.

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**A/N pt. 2: **Sorry to finish the chapter like this! I was planning to write more, but I just didn't have the time, and I wanted to update this today. Tomorrow's Friday, so I guess I'll write a few more chapters. I think the next chapter will be in Ryan's POV, and will most likely consist of what happens during detention, and Taylor's confrontation with Chad. After that, I may do a time skip to when it's almost the end of the school year. If you have any ideas or thoughts about this story, feel free to put them in the reviews, and I'll see what works with what I've been thinking of.


	3. A Little Fall of Rain

**A/N: **Hey! Chapter Three is up –nods-. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this! This chapter pretty much explains what happens in last chapter in Ryan's POV, plus the detention. Also, to the people who reviewed with ideas, thank you!

Zxully anti-nostalgic- Don't worry, it won't be a HUGE time skip, just like, a month's time skip between the current time and the end of school, so I won't have to write about a bunch of pointless junk that happened in the school year. The real plot comes during the summer, but you'll find out about that next chapter!

**Also, one of the lines in this story is from a Broadway song**. **Not** the chapter name, though that's from a musical too. If anyone can **pm** telling me what line/song/musical it's from, I'll give them a little preview of what will happen later in the story. Please don't post the answer in reviews, because then everyone else can see it and I don't want anyone cheating. Anyways, enjoy!

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment. The title of this story also does not belong to me, but to Rent.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter Three

Ryan Evans calmly turned off his beeping alarm clock as it rang at 7 a.m. in the morning. He had been up for the last hour, calmly doing yoga on the mat he kept at the foot of his bed. The alarm was just to remind him that at 7, he had to begin getting ready for the school day. He had found that if he did yoga before the school day started, it cleared his mind, helping him keep calm and relaxed, especially when Sharpay threw her regular fits at school.

He needed to be especially calm today, for he was going to try and confront Chad Danforth about their friendship. Not that he was going to come onto Chad; he was just going to ask to sit with him and the Wildcats at lunch. Since the other Wildcats were his friends also, it wouldn't seem too suspicious that he wanted to spend time with them.

He took a shower, and went to his walk in closet to pick out his outfit. He decided on his pink striped shirt, white pants, and his trademark hat, selecting the pink one with white pinstripes.

He stood in front of the life-sized mirror for half an hour, inspecting every aspect of himself, wanting to look perfect today (as though he didn't look perfect _every_ day), as he believed that looks made quite an impression when setting up a lunch date.

Fine, it wasn't a _date_ per say, and sure, he wasn't even sure he'd be allowed to sit with the Wildcats after ignoring them for so long. But still, even if there was the slimmest chance he'd be near Chad today, he wanted to be at his best.

After his sister rudely barged into his room without knocking, and forcibly pulled him away from his mirror; she was quite strong from all the dancing she did, he found himself in the back of his limo, being driven to school, with Sharpay sitting next to him, chattering away about some pointless, irrelevant subject. He paid no attention to her, but occasionally nodded now and then, to appear as if he actually cared about her small problems. He often got irritated with his sister's self absorbed tales, but he guessed she was called the Drama Queen for two reasons, not only for her acting skills.

Ryan seriously contemplated taking the bus to school in the mornings, just to see Chad, but he couldn't stand the thought of being on that hot, sticky bus which was completely unsanitary. He couldn't stand the thought of being in such close proximity to such filth, what if dirt got on his clothes? He dismissed the idea quickly, but still…He needed ways to get close to Chad without being _too_ obvious- he didn't want Chad to freak out if he thought Ryan was flirting with him. He needed to build up their friendship first before he even dared to flirt.

Sighing, he watched his school come into view as the limo pulled up next to the sidewalk in front of the steps up to the building. He waited for Sharpay to get out first- even though she was on the opposite side of the limo, she always insisted on getting out of the car first- and then got out, inhaling the mixed scent of a freshly mown lawn, Axe cologne, perfume, and kids in general that was the scent he associated with school. He braced himself for the day ahead, and started ascending the stone steps.

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During homeroom, Ryan sat next to Sharpay in the center of the front row, as he always did. After all, he _was_ Sharpay's poodle, though she had admittedly been treating him with more respect than she used to after the summer talent contest. It seemed she had finally realized how much she needed her brother after she had made such a mess of their summer plans.

He briefly noticed as Troy entered the room, but was far more interested when Chad followed Troy closely, a basketball under one are, and an extremely off put Martha Cox entering after Chad, an uncustomary scowl on her face. _I wonder what's gotten Martha so upset. _He briefly wondered about this, then more importantly, he thought, _I hope Chad sits near me._ But alas, Troy decided to sit in the back row, and of course Chad followed his best friend. _Of course he would. _Ryan couldn't help thinking of Chad as a dog that followed Troy, just like he trotted obediently after Sharpay.

Ryan had a will of iron, but he often went along with his sister's schemes, often because they were plans that benefited them both, and he didn't see what good arguing with her would do. He stood up for himself and others when his plans got too outrageous, but he didn't need the extra stress of fighting with his twin on top of all his other personal problems- not to mention when their mental bond was strong, he could feel her feelings, and didn't want to feel her pain when it was he who had hurt her.

He listened half heartedly to Ms. Darbus' speech about the spring musicale- which was going to be 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown', ignoring Sharpay's gasps and squeals about wanting to be Sally Brown, and how Ryan would be perfect for Charlie Brown because he looked a bit like Anthony Rapp, who was the original Charlie Brown. Then, as if to say the monotony of the speech needed to be interrupted, a cell phone rang. As Ryan and half the class whipped out their phones, Ryan could've sworn Ms. Darbus turned a new shade of red, before she confiscated everyone's cellphones and assigned detention to anyone who even had a phone's antennae poking out of their pocket.

Ryan groaned as he was assigned detention, he had better things to do with his spare time! Like going shopping, or color coordinating his shoes with his hats. But as he heard the last name for detention called, he brightened; this was his chance to spend some time with Chad! A slow smile spread across his face, which confused those around him quite a bit, except for Sharpay, who instinctively knew what her brother was thinking.

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Ryan sat up with a start as the bell rang- he hadn't notice the time fly by as he daydreamed of how he was going to approach the boy in the back of the classroom. Gathering his books, he made his way to his locker. He bumped into someone as he left the classroom, and he muttered an apology, though he didn't bother to look up to see who it was, nor did he notice dropping one of his books on the floor. As he opened his locker, he was dimly aware of someone calling his name.

"Evans!" Chad Danforth came running up to him, holding a book.

"Huh? Oh, Chad!" Ryan said, looking at the boy in disbelief. What did Chad want now of all times, after they'd barely exchanged a sentence to each other in the last few months? "What do you need?"

"Oh, I don't need anything." Chad looked a bit uncomfortable, he shifted his weight from foot to foot, looked around as if he was trying to avoid Ryan's eyes, and scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. "It's just…here!" He shoved the book towards Ryan quickly. "You just dropped this when you bumped into me."

"Oh! That was you?" Ryan said, trying not to blush. He couldn't believe he had actually bumped into Chad and not noticed. "Well…thanks" He took the book, but instead of putting it in his locker, let his arm hang awkwardly by his side, holding the novel.

"Er…no problem." Chad answered lamely. They stood in silence for a moment, neither sure what to say. _What could be said, after all?_ Ryan thought bitterly. _Sorry our friendship died as soon as the school year started?_

Chad finally opened his mouth, about to utter a sentence, when suddenly Zeke appeared. "Chad! Come on man, we have basketball practice during free period!" The baker said, grabbing Chad's arm. Chad closed his open jaw with a snap, then muttered a hasty goodbye to Ryan as he was dragged away. Ryan felt a spark of regret flicker in him, and for a second, he could've sworn he saw his disappointment reflected in Chad's eyes.

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They spent detention painting sets for the school musical. Ms. Darbus used detention to force the kids to work from the drama club, whether they wanted to or not. It struck Ryan that this situation was ironic, as he picked up a paintbrush and dipped it into a can of blue paint, since Ryan always worked for the drama club, whether he was forced to or not. This was hardly a punishment for him, though it was for Sharpay, since she never painted willingly- she saw manual labor as below her.

Ryan could've also sworn Chad was avoiding him; whenever he went near the boy to get a new brush or another can of paint, no matter how innocent his intentions, as he approached, Chad would always find an excuse to work somewhere else on the set.

Finally Ryan gave up his attempts to get close enough to Chad to start a conversation, and settled for painting on a part of the set that was a few yards away from Chad, so he could still see and hear him, but far enough away that he didn't feel as if he were intruding on Chad's personal zone.

Suddenly Taylor McKessie appeared backstage, which was a bit odd- Ryan didn't remember her name being called for detention duty. But as she approached Chad, without showing the slightest interest in any of the work that was going on, Ryan suddenly knew what she was here for. Her _boyfriend_. He pulled a face, but neither Chad nor Taylor saw it.

Taylor was almost screeching at Chad for something, Ryan winced- Taylor could be incredibly loud and even more high pitched then Sharpay when she wanted to be; and she only restrained herself from totally losing it by the fact that Ms. Darbus was hovering around somewhere in the same room.

From the somewhat audible parts that Ryan could hear, he assumed Chad had forgotten about their date, hadn't bothered to cancel or call to say he wasn't coming, and had ignored Taylor all day.

Suddenly, Chad shut Taylor up by pulling her into a passionate kiss, which effectively gagged her. She looked indignant for a moment, then melted into Chad's kiss- he was being more passionate than usual.

As Ryan saw this, he felt his heart wrench. _He was never mine to lose._ He reminded himself. _Why regret what could not be? _

Chad pulled back, and looked at Taylor, a soft indescribable look in his eyes- it was almost sad. "I love you." He whispered. Taylor looked giddy from the kiss, and just clung to Chad's arm for a moment.

Meanwhile, Ryan was trying not to let his sorrow show on his face as he heard Chad's whisper echo across the room. _These are words he'll never say. Not to me._ Shaking uncontrollably, he almost dropped the paintbrush, but steadied himself, though he bit his lip until it bled trying to stop himself from crying. Trembling slightly, he lifted the brush to paint the next stroke on the canvas.

**A/N pt. 2:** I feel bad ending this on such a sad note, but at least I hope this'll keep you looking forward to the next chapter! Also, if you read this, if you could review, it would be most helpful!

I think I'll start doing shout outs to people who review, just because I owe you guys for actually reading my work. I had no idea anyone would actually read it, I just started writing to relieve stress –laughs-. I find it odd I actually relieve my stress load by writing so much every day; it's a bit weird, now that I think about it –laughs-. Oh well, I love doing it, so I'll keep it up.


	4. What Is This Feeling?

**A/N:** I can't believe this story's up to chapter four already…I'm not exactly how long this story is going to end up being…I'm thinking around 10 chapters? But knowing me, it may be much longer or a little bit shorter…I'm so unreliable.

Anyways, I'm exhausted right now, since I woke up extra early to go sit outside the Public on Lafayette Street to try and get tickets to the Hair Anniversary Concert and I waited for four hours and ended up not being able to get the tickets –sigh-. So please excuse any errors- point them out to me and I'll correct them.

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment. The title of this story also does not belong to me, but to Rent.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter Four

Sharpay tentatively knocked on the door softly, so gently she wasn't sure if the person inside would be able to hear it. But she needn't worry about that- her brother had the hearing ability of a fox. But would he let her in?

"Come in." His voice was even quieter then her knock had been, but Sharpay heard it none the less. She paused- Ryan sounded as if he had been crying, his voice was hoarse. She could feel the pain inside him, as occasionally his sorrow would sweep across their mental link borne from twin telepathy. She opened the door a creak to peer in at the blonde boy, who was sitting cross legged on his bed, his elbows resting on his knees and his face buried in his hands. His hat was on the floor, as crumpled as if Ryan had rolled it into a ball and thrown in across the room- which was probably what had happened.

"Hey Ry." She said, walking lightly across the floor to sit on the edge of her brother's bed, resting her hand of his back. "How are you?"

"How do I look?" Ryan said, a tiny laugh escaping him. It wasn't a humorous laugh, but more like a laugh that was forcing any sound out of his throat that was choked up with grief.

"Terrible." Sharpay admitted, rubbing her brother's back in circles to try and make him feel better. She could be really considerate when she felt like it (which wasn't often), and she cared about Ryan more than anyone else she knew- even their own parents. He was her other half, he had qualities she didn't possess; at times they were complete opposites, joined together by their mutual love of show business. But they always seemed to completely understand each other, no matter how different their views were.

"Thanks." He said sarcastically, finally looking up at her. His eyes were red. She could see she had been right- he had been crying.

"Anytime." She joked, trying to get a smile, no matter how smile it might be. It didn't work.

"Shar, if you just want to insult me, can you do it at another time? I'm free next Friday." He grabbed buried his face in his hands once again, ignoring her.

"Aw Ry- you know I don't want to hurt you." She sighed. "I just- I saw what happened with Taylor and Chad." She said abruptly, trying to provoke him into talking. It had obviously been this that had set Ryan off, even if he knew Chad had been dating Taylor for months.

"You're doing an awfully good job of it for someone who isn't trying to hurt me." He snapped angrily. He _really _didn't want to talk to anyone right now. And he wasn't really angry with Sharpay, but he was so sad and choked up with emotions he needed an outlet- and she was the only one around.

"Don't worry Ryan. It'll work out- you'll see." She said, getting up to leave at his look. She needed to leave; she could tell nothing she'd say would make him feel any better. "Just- I'm here if you need to talk."

And she exited, closing the door behind her. And Ryan watched her go, and said so softly that she didn't hear it, "Thank you."

-------------------------------------

Chad lay across his bed, headphones in his ears, as he supported his head with a pillow. He wasn't listening to rock or anything loud like he would normally listen to. He needed to think, and he supposed if listening to Mozart supposedly made babies smarted, it might work for him. And he needed intelligence right now, when his head was in such turmoil, he needed any advantage he could get to sort out his confused thoughts.

He didn't understand what he was feeling for Ryan. Could he possibly be gay? It seemed impossible; Chad had always appeared as one of the straightest guys in school. He was an amazing athlete, he hated show tunes and anything girly or frilly. He had always found girls attractive, the stack of magazines stored in his secret compartment under the floorboards proved that. So _why_ was he feeling like this now?

Kissing Taylor had been one last attempt to prove to himself that he was straight. It always had the added effect of shutting his girlfriend up- he didn't need to listen to her rant- Taylor could go on for hours and Chad couldn't spare that time on her.

Not that he didn't love Taylor as a friend…he just needed all the time he could to have a mental debate with himself. And so the battle in his skull went on, each side putting a furious fight with Mozart in the background.

_But you obviously feel something for Ryan, don't you? You could barely form a sentence around him today! And when you kissed Taylor you felt __**nothing**__. Absolutely __**nothing**__. So why would you keep up the pretence that you still like her? And when Zeke pulled you away from Ryan, weren't you terribly disappointed? And didn't Ryan look like he regretted not having the chance to talk to me? So it might be possible that he likes you back._

These thoughts were immediately countered. _Well, maybe this isn't really love, maybe it's just a phase. I mean, plenty of teenagers have a phase where they believe they're attracted to the opposite sex, and what not. And maybe you still like girls, but you like Taylor better as a friend. Just because you feel nothing for her doesn't mean you hate kissing girls, does it? And I may have only felt regret for not talking to Ryan because you miss his friendship? And he could have only felt regret at the loss of friendship as well…I don't even know if Ryan is gay!_

He groaned, and eventually his eyelids slowly closed, his mind weighed down with all these thoughts- Chad wasn't as used to mental exercise as he was to basketball practice. As he slept, his dreams were filled with thoughts of a certain classmate.

-------------------------------------

"Come _on_ Ryan!" Sharpay hissed, pushing her brother forward towards the cafeteria. "You _promised_ you'd get the courage to do this today! I'm going to make sure you keep this promise." She glared at her brother's obstinate form.

"Shar…I just can't." He said in a hoarse voice. "I really can't."

"Yes you _can!_ Don't think negatively." She snapped. "You can, and will do this! Otherwise, how will your relationship ever progress? Even if it's only his friendship, it's still worth it, isn't it?"

"I guess…" He said, uncertain about this whole idea. He wished he had never thought of it. And he especially wished he had never told Sharpay about it.

"You're an actor, right? So act calm, act natural!" She lectured him on how to behave. "Now let's do this!"

The entered the cafeteria, Sharpay going up to the regular drama table. Ryan hesitated for a second, then headed over to the Wildcat table. They all stopped talking and laughing, and stared at him for a few moments. He cleared his throat nervously. "Um…is it alright if I sit with you guys?" They were silent, looking at him, remembering the fun times they had shared over summer, and how they had grown apart over the school year.

Then finally Troy Bolton spoke up. "Of course you can, Evans!" He said, a slow smile spreading over his face. "Do you really need to ask?" He teased, making room for Ryan. At the same time, Troy couldn't help but notice Chad looked like he had been hit by a bulldozer, though he had been laughing a minute ago.

"Thanks Troy." Ryan said, obviously relieved at getting the all clear from the basketball star himself. "I know…it's just been so long since we've all talked."

At that note, Sharpay approached the table, a sugar coated smile on her face. Ryan gave her a startled look that clearly sent the message 'What are you doing?' out towards his twin. She ignored his look, and stared at Gabriella and Taylor, who were sitting next to each other. "Hello everyone!" She said cheerfully. "I was just wondering, Gabriella, Taylor, would you please sit with me at lunch today? We haven't spoken in _ages_, and I really miss you guys." She said, actually sounding sincere.

Gabriella and Taylor exchanged a look of confusing, both wondering what was going on. Sharpay never showed any interest in them unless she was up to a scheme of hers, and they wanted to know what she was planning this time. Except this time, she actually sounded like she wanted them to come sit with her, and they couldn't think of any reason why she'd be trying to sabotage them.

"Well…alright." Gabriella said slowly, and Taylor nodded. They both got up, with their trays, and followed Sharpay to the drama table. As she led them away, Sharpay couldn't help but notice that Chad had looked stricken when Ryan had approached the table. It gave her a thought, though she wanted to talk to Taylor before she made a theory.

"So" She began pleasantly as they sat down and began eating. "How have you lives been lately?" She listened patiently as Gabriella went on and on about Troy, only feeling a twinge of envy but ignoring it- Ryan was the important one right now. When Taylor mentioned her relationship with Chad, Sharpay perked up. "Oh yea!" She said excitedly, but trying to keep a cool façade, she didn't want to seem _too_ interested. "I saw you two kissing the other day at rehearsal." She said, taking a bite of crème brulée that had mysteriously gotten into her locker. It was delicious.

Taylor grinned giddily just remembering that kiss. "Oh yea. That was amazing. I mean, Chad's _never_ kissed me like that before. He was just so…passionate. Usually it's just holding hands and quick kisses, but this was _totally_ different. It was almost like he was fired on by something to do it, it didn't seem like he was into me at all, just into the kiss."

Sharpay nodded, and replied, but she was too busy thinking about what Taylor had just said. _'It didn't seem like he was into me at all, just into the kiss'…what could that possibly mean? Was Chad thinking of someone else when he was kissing Taylor? But Chad's been acting totally normal around everyone lately…so it doesn't look like he's having a secret love affair. And he doesn't seem to be crushing on anyone…whenever he's got a crush, he always stammers and gets so nervous…_

Then everything clicked into place. Sharpay gasped out loud, startling the other two girls. "I'm really sorry! I have to go!' She excused herself, running out of the cafeteria. _He likes Ryan! He has to! Didn't Ryan say that Chad was so nervous when he returned Ryan's book? And just now…when Ryan came over, Chad looked incredibly surprised…his was the only reaction like that!_ Sharpay was sure she was right. But what could she do about it? She would make up a scheme to get the two together…but first, she needed a Wildcat who would tell her anything she wanted to know…

Then as she turned into the hallway, she saw just the guy she needed. "Zeke!"

-------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Ryan and Troy were having an animated discussion about 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. It was unlikely, but it was Ryan and Troy's favorite movie, which seemed to be the only thing they had in common. Troy loved the movie for the great action scenes and pirate fights, and Ryan loved the movie because Johnny Depp was amazingly sexy in it, and he even wore make-up as part of the costume.

While they talked, Chad Danforth, the loudest boy in school, was keeping very quiet, which was totally out of character for him. Troy noticed this, but didn't bring attention to it, since the only reason Troy could think of about why Chad was acting like this was that Ryan had something to do with it, and Troy didn't want to hurt Ryan if it turned out Chad had a problem with the blonde.

As the bell for the end of lunch rang, Ryan left, and before Chad could depart, Troy grabbed his best friend's wrist, dragging him to a secluded corner of one hallway. "Dude, what was up with you this lunch period?" He whispered.

Chad looked uncomfortable about being question. "It was nothing…I was just…" He trailed off, but he knew Troy would leave him alone till he told the truth. "I was just wondering if Ryan was gay." He explained.

To his surprise, Troy burst out laughing at this. "Of course he is, Chad! Are you totally thick?" He said between laughs. "Dude, Ryan wears pink all the time. He's in show business. His hats match his shoes, for God's sake. He's the most flamboyant boy I've ever seen. And he told me he was during the musical." He added, to show that he wasn't just stereotyping. "But why were you wondering about that? Are you homophobic?" He asked seriously.

"Of course not!" Chad said indignantly, his brain processing this load of information. "I just never really thought about it…you know. And it was just bothering me…not knowing. I didn't want to make any assumptions, you know."

Troy shrugged. "Whatever. Now you know, so you can be normal around him again." He said, though internally, Chad strongly disagreed with this. Quite opposite in fact- he would be even more awkward around Ryan now, since Chad was having a sexual identity crisis.

"Whatever. Let's go to class." Chad murmured, heading towards his next class, which was English. Troy sighed, shook his head at his best friend's recent odd attitude, but chased after him nonetheless. He'd find out what was bothering Chad.

**A/N pt. 2: **Now the best friends are snooping around and scheming…What will happen next? I think a little Zekepay soon, definitely some Troyella, and a big surprise for the summer…I'll try and update soon, I promise!


	5. So In Love

**A/N: **Hey everyone…once again –laughs-. I was so tired out from the morning I had, so I fell asleep while I was reading. I woke up, and I had reviews from fans wanting an update, so I thought, why not now? Anyways, so now Chapter Five is up in the same day, and I'm a little less tired. And I've been reading some other fanfiction…they're so long, I feel substandard. So I'm trying to write more in each chapter from now on. Tell me what you think!

Anyways, the song from Chapter Three was from "**A Heart Full of Love" **from Les Misérables. I think so people got confused, and sent the title of the chapter, but the lines were hidden near the end of the chapter.

So, I'm deciding since I didn't make it clear enough, I'm hiding another line into this chapter. To get a preview, you have to pm me the **song the line came from, and the name of the musical the song is from. **The line is not the chapter title; it is hidden **inside** the story.

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment. The title of this story also does not belong to me, but to Rent.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter Five

"Zeke!" Sharpay called, running over to the tall person, waving her hands excitedly. Never had she been so happy to see him, except for that one time he had baked her the most magnificent cookies. But that had been a long time ago- over a year, now that she thought about it. It seemed like it had been ages since Gabriella had upstaged her in the winter musicale. She had been a different person then, more cold, inconsiderate, and selfish. And while she was as determined, competitive, and as good at planning schemes as ever, she was determined to use those skills to help Ryan out. And getting information from Zeke was phase one. He was obsessed with her- he should be easy to crack.

"Sharpay!" He sounded surprised to see her approaching him; Sharpay always ignored him whenever he tried to ask her out. He never gave up though; he still baked for her and left the treats in her locker- though he never said it was him doing it. He figured if she knew, she might throw the cakes and muffins, the cookies and everything else he had ever left in there away.

"Zeke- we need to talk. Do you have a free period now?" She asked him, her eyes shining with anticipation of what she could find out.

"Oh-yea, I do actually." He said, nodding. "But let me get this straight? You want to hang out with me?" He asked slowly, trying to figure out what was going on. Was he in a dream? Or an alternate universe?

"Sure!" She said cheerfully, grabbing his hands and pulling him to an empty classroom. "So…" She sat down on the teacher's desk, gesturing for him to sit next to her.

"So?" He asked, timidly sitting down next to her. He was excited though- he had never really spent time alone with Sharpay before; this could be the breakthrough he needed to win her heart.

"I was wondering…could you tell me about Chad's relation with Taylor?" She asked as innocently as she could. She didn't want Zeke to catch on to what she was up to- but she doubted he would, even if she were to be blatantly obvious. He was too busy staring at her with those love struck eyes- he reminded her of a kangaroo in the headlights. Sharpay had taken to using that expression instead of 'a deer in the headlights'- kangaroos were like deer when it came to being hit by cars, and since her trip to Australia, she preferred her saying.

"Chad's relationship with Taylor?" Zeke said absent mindedly as he stared at the girl he adored. He couldn't tell you why he like Sharpay- it was one of those unexplainable things of life; like that way animals knew when a natural disaster was happening, or why his soufflés wouldn't rise when he followed cooking instructions perfectly. "Well…I'm assuming its going well- we all saw that kiss in detention the other day." Sharpay nodded, that was the kiss that had gotten Ryan so upset.

"But…It's just like…Chad doesn't talk about his relationship with Taylor much. Not like Troy with Gabriella." Sharpay didn't even feel jealously this time, to her great surprise. "Troy's always making excuses to touch Gabriella when she's around, he gives her these looks, and all these little things are so obvious to everyone else. And when she isn't around, he always talks about her, about their dates, he won't leave out a single little detail…But with Chad, he never really touches Taylor, or looks at her as if she's more then a friend. They go out on dates often, but he never really mentions them to us. It's like they're only friends most of the time…he doesn't really seem interested in Taylor anymore. Which is why we Wildcats were all surprised by his exhibition yesterday." Zeke finished with a chuckle.

Sharpay nodded slowly. Now she had the last pieces of the puzzle- she was sure that Chad liked Ryan now. He was totally not into Taylor, which Sharpay had suspected in the first place…But now these little things just made Sharpay sure of it- she supposed it was woman's intuition.

"Well, thanks a lot Zeke." She said, patting him on the back. She needed to go think about the next step to take with this. She had an inkling of an idea, but she didn't think she should tell Ryan her suspicions without any solid evidence- it would only get his hopes up. She didn't want her brother to be let down in case she was wrong.

"That's it?" Zeke said, badly confused. All she wanted to talk about was Chad and Taylor? Why was that? Was it even conceivable that she _liked_ Chad? Zeke felt some jealously rise up in him, but he shoved it down. It seemed impossible that Sharpay would fall for someone like Chad, and even if she did, Chad would probably rather date a mountain lion than Sharpay.

"Yea, I know what I needed to know." She said, smiling as she got up to leave. She headed towards the door, her Gucci bag slung over one shoulder.

Zeke knew his chance was slipping away, so he blurted his question out before he lost his courage. "Want to go get a coffee after school or something?" He asked, a blush rising up in his cheeks.

Sharpay hesitated, her hand lingering on the doorknob. She couldn't believe Zeke had the nerve to ask her out! But he had helped her out…and maybe he wasn't that bad of a guy, even if he did play basketball, and even if he was really tall. "Well…I guess we can arrange that." She said, smiling warmly at him, then left the room.

Zeke grinned. He was finally making progress.

-------------------------------------

Chad sat up bolt right, sweating and panting hard. He glanced over at the alarm clock next to his bed- it was 5 a.m. Why had he suddenly woken up? One look at the bulge in his pants brought the flood of memories rushing back. Of his dream, where he was kissing Ryan Evans; where he was doing unmentionable things to the blonde boy who had walked into his dreams, only to be jumped on.

Chad groaned, not sure whether to open the window and let the cool air calm him, to go back to bed, or to just throw up. For now he could not deny that he was gay- or bisexual at the very least. He grabbed his hair, yanking at his brown fro with frustration. It hurt, but at least it distracted him for his own inner anguish.

_Now what do I do? _He thought helplessly. _I need to break up with Taylor…There's no way I can lead her on like this. At the very least, she needs to be able to get another boyfriend without me in the way…one that actually loves her as more then a friend. But that'll cause a bunch of questions from her and the guys…questions that I don't…can't answer. I just can't out myself…I just couldn't._

He groaned, standing up and walking to the window. He feared going back to sleep, in case those dreams came back. He didn't need his mother coming into his room to wake him just to find him in _that_ state…he'd never hear the end of it. He sighed, the cool air swirling around his flushed face. Maybe he should ask Troy for help, he knew his best friend was fine with homosexuals, after all, Troy was cool with Ryan, wasn't he? And Troy would never break Chad's trust and tell anyone else…except perhaps Gabriella, who Chad trusted anyways. And maybe he should tell Taylor…those three could help him solve his problems, and he knew they wouldn't reject him.

Feeling a bit more hopeful, he sat on the edge of his bed, and began to stretch. He was seriously contemplating Ryan's words- Yoga clears the mind. Maybe Chad should try it one day. Grinning slightly, he began to 'greet the sun'.

-------------------------------------

"Troy, Gabriella, Taylor!" Chad saw the three talking by the lockers- they had 15 minutes before the next class started. He had decided last night to tell them what he was going through- though he wasn't going to tell them about Ryan, he didn't want them to know about that just yet.

"Hey Chad!" Troy said, smiling as the boy approached. The three all noticed right away he looked different, he seemed edgy, and nervous about something.

"Um…I need to talk to you guys somewhere…privately." He said pointedly, and saw that all three of them raised their eyebrows slightly. It seemed they'd finally find out what had been bothering Chad these last few days.

When they were in a secure perimeter, and Chad had made sure nobody was there eavesdropping on them, he turned to his friends and took a deep breath. "Guys…I have a confession…but can you guys promise you'll still be friends with me?" He said, a pleading look crossing his face.

They looked nervous. It was Taylor who eventually spoke up. "Chad…we'll always be friends with you. We love you for who you are, and nothing can change that…but if you did something terrible, we might not forgive you right away. So we can't promise that."

Chad sighed huffily. "It's not like that Taylor…I didn't do anything exactly." He scratched the back of his neck nervously. "It's like…well…I discovered something about myself that I felt I should tell you guys…"

They all nodded in unison- completely unrehearsed. They had rarely ever seen Chad so serious, it was a bit creepy.

"Well…I'm…I'm.." He couldn't get the words out. He took another deep breath and tried again. "I'm like, you know, adudewholikesotherdudes." He said breathlessly.

"Huh?" Once again, they said the same thing all together, the same blank expression on their faces. It would've been comical if it hadn't been so serious.

"I'm…gay." He said it. There, the deed was done. Now to see how they'd react.

It was a mixed reaction. Troy burst out into laughter, Gabriella ran over and hugged him, telling Chad she was fine with it while telling Troy to stop being an ass. Taylor looked as if she was indecisive if she should laugh with Troy, hug Chad, or cry. He looked at her, she was his girlfriend, after all, and he felt terrible for hurting her. She waved his looks off.

"It's fine Chad. I always knew there was something wrong with our relationship, but I just never suspected you were gay…I just thought you weren't attracted to me." She said with a chuckle.

He grinned, relieved. "You're incredibly attractive." He told her, winking slyly at her, which caused her to laugh. "I'd be incredibly seduced if I didn't like R- the opposite sex." He said quickly, hoping they hadn't heard his blunder. They seemed to have missed it, except for Troy, who raised his eyebrows and stopped laughing. Chad shot him a glare, hoping Troy really hadn't guessed what he was going to say, but in case he had, the glare let him know Chad wasn't up to discussing it.

Troy nodded slightly, and left, leaving the girls hugging Chad and reassuring him. He had business to do- He had to find Sharpay.

-------------------------------------

Troy finally gave up- he just couldn't find Sharpay anywhere. He had looked in the auditorium, in the theatre, anywhere he could imagine her going (except for the girls bathroom). He sighed, then noticed it was time for lunch. He grinned, he could catch Sharpay after lunch and have a conversation with her then. Nobody was better at scheming then Sharpay, especially when it concerned her or her brother.

Giving up, he turned around and headed towards the cafeteria, keeping an eye out for her on the way, in case she had decided to skip lunch to go practice on her newest song or dance.

He opened the door to the cafeteria, and saw that once again Ryan was sitting at the Wildcat table, chatting with Gabriella, while Chad talked with Taylor, often glancing to the blonde boy sitting next to her, then averting his gaze. Troy grinned, chuckled, and shaking his head, walked up to his friends.

"Hey Chad, Ryan." He nodded, sitting down in between Taylor and Ryan, and noticed the brief flash of envy in Chad's eyes as he did so. He smiled warmly at Gabriella, who smiled back at him. He loved her so much…but now wasn't the time for that. He needed to concentrate. Falling quiet, he poked at his lunch, wondering what he could do in case Sharpay decided not to scheme for him.

-------------------------------------

Ryan sat there, conversing with Gabriella about every day life, he hadn't seen her in a while, and they had gotten to be good friends last summer. She was going on about Troy- but Ryan wasn't exactly listening. He didn't really need to know about how cute Troy had looked when he accidentally dyed his hair black when he took a shower at her place and had mistaken her mother's black hair dye for shampoo. He kept glancing at Chad, who was only across the table, but was in conversation with his girlfriend Taylor. He sighed, he was so close to the boy he loved, but too shy to talk to him. _One more day all on my own. _He sighed, trying to pretend he wasn't clinging onto every word that dropped from Chad's lips…the dark lips the Ryan wanted so desperately to kiss. He looked away from Chad quickly. _One more day with him not caring. _

He shook his head, until the topic of Gabriella's chatter came in through the cafeteria doors, looking a bit sheepish at being so late to lunch. He came and sat Ryan and Taylor, and Ryan hurried up to make room for Troy. He said a brief hello, then stared out the window, sure that Troy would take up all of Gabriella's attention now that he was here. But instead, Troy fell into unnatural silence. Ryan rolled his eyes, wondering what was wrong with the world, and began eating school lunch with the manners of a king. No doubt things wouldn't be normal in his life for some time.

-------------------------------------

"Sharpay!"

The blonde girl turned around, surprised, to see Troy Bolton dashing out of the cafeteria towards her. What did he want, after ditching her during the talent show and avoiding her since then?

"Troy?" She questioned as he approached, curious to hear what he wanted after all this time despite herself.

"Hey Sharpay. Long time no see." He began awkwardly as they both stood there, blocking the hallway.

"That's an understatement." She said with a giggle. "So what do you want now, Troy Bolton? Aren't you taking an awful risk? What if Gabriella sees you with me, the girl who's tried to break you up so many times?" She could be honest, she knew she had no real feelings for Troy, so she didn't have to be sweet to him.

"Ah…well. This isn't about me, this is about Ryan…" He began, but was cut off by Sharpay.

"What's wrong with Ryan?" Sharpay said defensively. "Do you have a problem with my brother sitting with you at lunch? Because I won't let you drive him away."

"No! That's not what I mean…I like Ryan, really! He's a cool guy, it's just…one of my friends has a crush on him, but he refuses to admit it…" Troy shifted from foot to foot under Sharpay's gaze. She wasn't called the Ice Princess for nothing.

"Which friend?" She said sharply.

He looked around, making sure no one important was in sight. He lowered his voice before he replied. "Chad."

Sharpay looked startled. She grabbed Troy's forearm, dragging him to an empty room with some force. "We need to talk."

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Fifteen minutes later, they reappeared, both smirking, satisfied with themselves for thinking up such an in genius plot. Fine, maybe it wasn't that brilliant, it was quite simple, but it was a good plan that should work, given enough time. But they couldn't afford to rush into this, in case they freaked out one of the two boys.

Both had updated each other on what was happening with their boy's status and current situation. Troy felt for Ryan, and was sad to hear how upset the blonde was over Chad.

"So, I'll try to convince Ryan to ask, but it might take a while." Sharpay explained as they left. "I'll do all the work, all you have to do is tell everyone else except Chad, alright?

Troy nodded, still smiling. "Yep! It's a foolproof plan." He stated enthusiastically. "Unless…you can't convince Ryan. But I'm sure you can!" he added hastily under her withering look that obviously said, 'I'm Sharpay! I can do anything.'

"Of course I can." She sniffed haughtily, and began walking away.

And Troy had to ask. He had his suspicions the other day, but he needed to know if the rumor was true…"Sharpay!"

She stopped, not bothering to turn around. "Yes?"

"Is it true you're dating Zeke?"

She stiffened, he couldn't see her facial expression though. Then she seemed to relax, and shrugged. "We'll see." Was all she said before she skipped away.

And all Troy could think of on his way to his locker, was how much Sharpay Evans had changed over the year.

**A/N pt. 2:** Haha, I started this, then went out to dinner with my parents. And for dessert, guess what I had? That's right, crème brulée! I couldn't help but this of 'Stick to the Status Quo'. I'm pretty sure I was humming it under my breath. Then I came back and wrote the part about Zeke with new gusto. Anyways, a lot happened in this chapter…with Chad outing himself and all…it'll be a pretty eventful next chapter too…


	6. Love Is A Crime

**A/N: **Hello everybody –yawns-. It's probably way too early to be writing fanfiction at 9, usually I'm unable to do anything until afternoon…So not a morning person. I kind of based Chad's morning persona with my own.

Anyways! After I started this author's note, I went out to try and get the Hair tickets again, and I got the **very last two!** So I'm going to be at it tonight! But I felt so awful for the people behind me, since I had gotten to know them really well…I felt awfully guilty…

Also, I'll give you guys another day to find out what the song from Chapter 5, since I update pretty fast…But yea. Congratulations to the two people who got it right so far. And now onto Chapter 6. Also, I really love the song I titled this chapter…if you couldn't tell, each chapter is named after a Broadway musical song I feel is appropriate for the topics the chapter covered. It's a bit difficult, choosing one for each…since so many songs come to mind. I basically scroll through iTunes every time I finish a chapter.

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment. The title of this story also does not belong to me, but to Rent.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter Six

Two months later, and Chad had finally gotten comfortable with himself being gay. He had come out to his mother, who after weeping about how she'd never have grandchildren (which wasn't entirely true, since Chad had an older sister, whom she conveniently forgot about at that moment), told him she'd love him no matter what, but to make sure the man he got together with liked The Phantom of the Opera, which confused and freaked Chad out quite a bit; he didn't see why that was the only thing she cared about after facing his newfound sexuality, but who knew with his mother? His sister had burst out laughing when he told her over the phone, quite like what Troy had done, then told him she always knew there was something odd about him. She gave him her best wishes, then she hung up to go get ready for a party.

He had noted come out to the whole school yet, Troy, Gabriella, and Taylor were the only people at school who knew. Well, Sharpay knew after Troy told her, but Chad wasn't to know that. If he knew the Ice Princess knew his deepest secret, he might just blow a fuse. He wasn't exactly ashamed of what he was; he just didn't feel ready for all the prejudice that would be aimed at him yet. He, unlike Ryan, didn't have money or Sharpay to protect him. (Even though Ryan and Sharpay would protect him, though Chad didn't know that either. He was pretty ignorant of his situation.)

But he was much more at ease with himself, which was a start. Once he accepted the fact that he was gay, maybe it'd be easier for others to accept it as well. He was thinking about telling Ryan, but he just couldn't…how would he do that? He couldn't just do it by acting like a totally gay stereotype, because then the whole school would know…but he couldn't approach Ryan like he had approached Troy, they were just different. And since Ryan was gay, would he think Chad was making fun of him?

He sighed; the subject of his last thought was sitting with Sharpay today. For the last two months he had sat with the Wildcats, but Chad guessed it was important for him to sit with his sister, though Sharpay often came to sit with the Wildcats as well, much to Chad's displeasure. Sure, she had gotten nicer, but Chad couldn't really believe the Ice Princess had changed at all.

Anyways, it was the last day of school, and Chad had mixed feelings about the summer. Sure, he was glad school was over, but he had no job, and he wouldn't get to see Ryan for a few months. And Troy and all the other Wildcats had gotten jobs, though they hadn't said where. So it seemed like Chad would be alone for the summer, forced to watch 'The Phantom of the Opera' with his mother over and over again due to lack of other plans.

"So Chad, what time should I pick you up tomorrow?" Troy said suddenly, startling Chad out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" Chad was totally confused, wasn't Troy starting his new job tomorrow? "What are you talking about?"

"You know." Troy rolled his eyes pointedly. He knew Chad would have no idea what he was talking about, but if he acted well enough, he bet he could convince Chad he had told him long ago. "For our job? Remember, we're working together over the summer?"

"We _are_?" Chad's eyebrows shot up into his fro. "You never told me that!"

"Sure I did." Troy took a sip of water. "I told you ages ago."

"Oh." Chad's face was blank as he scrambled to remember. "Well, I guess I forgot…wait…" He looked suspicious. "_Where are we working?_" He asked, remembering what had happened last time Troy got them all jobs.

"At the same place we did last summer." Noticing the horrified look on Chad's face, he corrected himself. "No, dude, it'll be much better this time. It was Ryan's idea, not Sharpay's." This wasn't strictly true; Sharpay had bullied Ryan into asking Troy, who immediately accepted the offer for him and the other Wildcats. It was Troy and Sharpay's idea that if they all worked at the country club, they'd have plenty of opportunities over the summer to scheme and make plots for Ryan and Chad to get together. "We'll all have membership privileges, and Mr. Fulton won't be such a jerk this time, because Sharpay won't be bullying him into bullying us. We'll have the pool, and more breaks, and stuff."

Chad nodded reluctantly, then brightened as he realized that he'd get to spend the whole summer with Ryan Evans. And, of course, swim in the pool and play baseball.

"What are you so happy about?" Troy said, nudging Chad in the ribs. The boy immediately tried to rearrange his face.

"I'm not that happy…I'm just thinking about how I'll have enough for a car once the summer's over." Chad explained hastily.

"Sure." Troy winked at him. "And it doesn't have anything to do with the fact you'll be working for a certain Ryan Evans this whole summer?"

"It has _nothing_ to do with Ryan!" Chad said hotly, trying not to blush, or look up at the blonde sitting on the next level of the cafeteria.

"If you say so." Troy shrugged. "So tell me Chad, which one of you will be the girl in that relationship?"

Chad didn't dignify that with an answer; instead, he maturely launched a forkful of mashed potatoes at his friend's head.

-------------------------------------

The next morning, everyone assembled outside Troy Bolton's house. Kelsi, Jason, Zeke, Chad, Gabriella, and Taylor were there. Troy was swinging his car keys around one finger as they waited for the Evan twins to show up. It was decided that half of them would go in Troy's car, and the other half would go in the twin's car.

Finally, the pink convertible came into sight as it turned around the car, parking next to the sidewalk everyone was standing on. Ryan and Sharpay got out, both dressed in hot pink. "Hello everybody!" Sharpay said cheerfully, looking them all over. "Troy, can you come here so we can decide who's going to go in each car?" She beckoned him over, while Ryan went to mingle with the rest of the Wildcats.

Five minutes later, Troy and Sharpay had finally decided on the groups. "Alright everyone, listen to me!" Sharpay commanded, once again the center of attention. "It's been decided that Kelsi, Taylor, Jason, and Gabriella will go with Troy. Which means that Chad and Zeke will come with me and Ryan!" She said happily.

Chad's jaw dropped open in unison with Ryan's. Ryan whipped his head around to glare at Sharpay, who was grinning smugly. Chad made an obscene hand gesture at Troy, who tried his best to look innocent without bursting into laughter. Everyone else around them just looked plain confused. Except for Zeke, who looked as if he had gone to heaven, he had been standing with the silliest expression on his face when he heard he'd be in Sharpay's car for a few hours. Sharpay wished she had her camera, so she could snap shot his look.

"Now, chop chop!" She clapped her hands together, gesturing towards the cars. "No time to waste! I really need to get to Lava Springs and go to the spa." With that, she trotted off and sat in the driver's seat, pulling out her pink, fluffy keychain and starting the car.

Chad shot one last glare at Troy, swore violently under his breath, then got into the backseat huffily, slamming the car door shut.

"Chad!" Sharpay squealed indignantly. "If you bust our car, I'll shave your hair off!" She threatened as she turned around, lowering her sunglasses to glare at him.

He scowled back at her, then sighed. "Whatever. Let's just go." He muttered grumpily as Ryan and Zeke got into the car.

"Aw, cheer up you two!" Zeke said to Ryan, who looked as if he would be violently sick, and to Chad, who looked like he was going to be just plain violent. "After all, what time is it?!" He said enthusiastically, trying to pick up their spirits.

"It's time for you all to shut up and start driving."

-------------------------------------

Three hours, and a very pissed off Chad later, the three arrived at the Lava Springs country club. Sharpay looked calm and collective, Ryan looked pensive, Zeke looked love-struck, and Chad was just plain livid. Apparently, he didn't take being in a car with his infatuation as well as Zeke did.

He scrambled out of the car as fast as he could, slamming the door behind him and running off to find Troy.

"That's it, Chad Danforth!" Sharpay yelled after him. "You'd better set up alarms around your hair, because as soon as you go to sleep, I'm shaving it off!" She grumbled things about inconsiderate people who didn't appreciate matchmakers and inspected the damage to the car door.

Ryan did not leave the seat of the car, he just stayed there quietly until Zeke got his luggage and left to find his room- it was decided all the Wildcats could stay at the club over the summer to save them the hassle of driving back and forth every day.

"Shar, why'd you put Chad with us in the car today?" He asked quietly. His sister froze, not replying, in case her brother blew up at her.

"I don't appreciate your meddling. Well, I guess I do, because you're really sweet to care about me enough to interfere, but really, I don't want help. I just need to do this on my own. Got it? You're not to make plans on your own."

Sharpay nodded, that was easy enough. Sure, she wouldn't make plans on her own, but he never said anything about her making plans with Troy Bolton.

"Thanks Shar." Ryan sighed. "I think I'm going to go to my room. I need some rest. See you at dinner."

"Later Ry." She watched him go, and then summoned a servant to carry their bags up to their rooms.

_Well, that plan with the car ride was a bust. _She sighed. _I didn't think it possible, but I think Chad is even more uncomfortable with Ryan after the car ride than he was before. They're both such idiots. Can't they see that they're both totally in love with each other? Like, heads over heels in love…I wonder, do I feel that way about anyone?_

Shaking her head, she headed towards the reception area to go talk to Mr. Fulton about the 'event' she and Troy were planning.

-------------------------------------

"3 for sleeping with the window shut." Mr. Fulton murmured as he bent over a member's fee. He looked up and noticed Sharpay strutting into the lobby. "Ah, Miss Evans!" He said brightly, going up to meet her. "How was school this year?"

"Boring, as usual. However, I did star in all my school's productions this year. Which made it a better year then last year, at any rate." She said, fanning herself with one hand.

"Very good, Miss Evans. Your mother's in the yoga room, if you want to see her." He informed her.

"Thanks, Mr. Fulton." She trotted off in pursuit of her mother, she needed to talk with her about this party she was planning, she needed her mother's permission before she started anything. And she was sure she could get it.

"Oh, Miss Evans! About that event, it's all been arranged." Mr. Fulton called after her. Sharpay turned and gave him a wide smile.

"Awesome." And with that elegant parting line, she flounced off to find her mother.

-------------------------------------

"Troy." The boy in question looked up to see a _very_ angry Chad Danforth glowering over him.

"That's me." He said cheerfully. "Would you like an autograph?"

"I can't believe you put me in that car." Chad said angrily, not even acknowledging Troy's bad joke.

"Hey, what's the big deal? Is it that you didn't like being in a car for hours with your boyfriend?" Troy asked casually, not taking his eyes off Chad's face as he said this.

Chad blushed furiously. "He isn't my boyfriend!" He cried, then ducked his head as people turned to stare at him. "He isn't my boyfriend." He repeated in a quieter voice. "Stop making references to him like that. Ryan isn't- he's not- we're not!" He fumbled over his words, waving his hands dramatically.

"Look, that isn't the point, alright? I just didn't like being stuck in a pink car for three hours! I'm not _gay…_ well, yes, I am gay, but I still hate pink!"

Troy rolled his eyes at his friend's stubbornness. "Chad, I'm your most loyal best friend. I care about you. So why don't you just drop the act and admit you like Ryan so I can help you out?"

Chad stood, mouth agape, lost for words. "I-I…" He shook his head, his curls bouncing in each direction. "I…don't like him." And with that, he walked away quickly before Troy could question him again.

Troy sighed. He expected that Chad's hair prevented any air getting to his brain. It looked like he'd never confess his feelings for Ryan.

"Troy!" He looked up once again to see Sharpay running towards him. "Troy! I got permission from Mr. Fulton and mother to throw the event!"

Troy grinned broadly. "Excellent. Especially since those two are so incredibly stubborn."

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. I mean, Ryan went to go sulk in his room after telling me to keep out of it."

Troy nodded. "Chad got on my back too. So about this event, did you call the guys yet?"

"Yea, and they said they'd love to put on a performance here. You sure Chad would be interested though? I know Ryan would be."

Troy smirked. "Chad wouldn't be interested, but he'd be forced to go. I'd drop word to his mother, and she'd kill him if he didn't go, with or without her."

Sharpay laughed. "You know, I'd never have guessed his mother to be a theatre freak. Not with the way Chad turned out."

Troy shrugged. "You'd better believe it. The Phantom of the Opera is her favorite, though. Too bad we couldn't get that."

Sharpay pulled a face. "Yea, but still…what we've got is good enough."

Troy nodded, and they got to work on their plot.

-------------------------------------

Gabriella glared at Troy and Sharpay, who were apparently huddled together, conversing in hushed tones. What were they up to? She hoped that Sharpay wasn't trying to steal Troy…again. She knew Troy had assured her that working here was Ryan's plan, and not Sharpay's, but even though Sharpay had changed and Gabriella had forgiven her for all she'd done, she couldn't help but be suspicious.

She sighed. She knew that Troy had been spending a lot of time with Sharpay lately. He assured her it was nothing, and that he still loved Gabriella, and he had no interest in Sharpay, but still…

Troy still looked at her with those adoring eyes, and Gabriella knew she was loved, but she still felt the tug at her heart when she saw her boyfriend conversing so deeply with the blonde.

She leaned against the building, her eyes closed as she thought about what they could be talking about.

"Gabriella?"

She snapped her eyes open to see Kelsi, who was looking at her with concern.

"Are you alright? You look sick."

She gave a wan smile to her musical friend. "I'm fine…I'm just wondering what those two are talking about." She gestured to Troy and Sharpay.

"Oh. Yea, they have been talking a lot, haven't they?" Kelsi shrugged. "Don't fret over it. Sharpay really has changed, and Troy has never taken her over you in the past."

Gabriella bit her lip. "But what if that's it? She's changed, so he likes her now? I just couldn't stand it…"

Kelsi put a comforting hand on Gabriella's shoulder. "Don't worry Gabriella. It'll be fine, you'll see."

"I suppose you're right." She sighed. "So why are you here anyway? I'd have thought you'd be in your room, writing a song."

Kelsi blushed. "Actually…I've been looking for Jason. I accidentally took one of his suitcases, can you believe that?" She said sheepishly.

Gabriella smiled, she'd had a feeling Kelsi had a crush on Jason for a while. "Sorry Kels, I haven't seen him. If I do, I'll tell him you've been looking around."

Kelsi nodded. "Thanks Gabriella. Anyways, feel better." She took off, looking around for the dark haired boy.

Gabriella took one last look at her boyfriend and Sharpay, then began walking up to her room. She was rooming with Taylor, and she wanted to talk to her best friend about her feelings, since Taylor understood more about boys then Gabriella did. And she had to put up with Chad until he came out, that must've been a hassle.

_Not that Chad wouldn't make a good boyfriend. _Gabriella thought, not wanting to think bad things about her friends. _It's just, he can be a bit of a handful, with his forgetfulness and stuff…but I'm sure his partner will be very happy, whoever that'll be._

_But please…let Kelsi be right. Let nothing be going on with Troy and Sharpay._

She crossed her fingers for luck, and opened the door to her room…or what she thought was her room.

"Ryan!"

**A/N: **Dun dun dun, what did she walk in on Ryan doing? –Giggles- You'll just have to wait and see…And you probably think it'll be something reallllyy dirty, right?

Anyways, I'm off to see Hair in about 20 minutes…Totally excited. Jonathan Groff is going to be Claude, which is one of the main reasons I waited outside in the street for tickets for _hours_. Anyways, I'll try and update after school tomorrow, except I have play rehearsal, so I may not have time? I'll do my best though. Also, I'll probably go on rambling about how great Hair was in my next author's note, and incorporate lots of Hair references in the story.


	7. I Love Him, But It Embarrasses Me

**A/N: **Hello all you viewers! Or is it readers? Here's the chapter update you've all been waiting for! Sorry for leaving you on such a cliffhanger last chapter…but sometimes its fun to make you all guess…does that make me a sadist? I wonder…

Anyways! To business. The song from Chapter Five was "One Day More" from Les Misérables. Congratulations to everyone who got that right! I won't give out your names yet, in case people bug you for the preview I gave.

StillThereForMe- You were right about Fulton's line in Chapter Six- it is from "Master of the House." I only put it in there because I was listening to it at the time and thought it would be fun to slip it in. But I'm impressed with the observation!

Poppyfields13- That was my favorite line as well! Also, you have to try crème brulée if you've never had it. It's _amazing_.

Also, this chapter title is devoted to "Hair", which I saw last night at the Delacorte theatre. It was completely _**amazing**_. It's my new second favorite show after "Spring Awakening." Both of them star Jonathan Groff, whom I absolutely adore. So if you haven't seen "Spring Awakening", go get tickets!

And now for something completely different.

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment. The title of this story also does not belong to me, but to Rent.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter Seven

"Ryan!"

Ryan jerked his head up, startled at the sudden interruption to his…activity.

Gabriella's mouth dropped open as she saw what Ryan was doing. He was…he was…

"Kissing a _photo?_" She said in disbelief. It just didn't seem like the sort of thing Ryan would do. He was so proud that he didn't seem like the sort desperate enough to do such a thing.

Ryan blushed furiously, hiding the photo and sitting on it so Gabriella couldn't see who the frame contained.

"Ryan, I can't believe I caught you making out with a photo." She said, not sure whether to laugh or be freaked out.

"I wasn't _making out._" He said defensively. "I just…gave it a small kiss, that's all."

"Sure." She said, rolling her eyes.

Ryan scowled, the infamous Evans attitude kicking in. "Hey, I didn't invite you to barge in on me!" He saw her face fall as he said this, and felt guilty. "Hey, I didn't mean that. Well, come on in, since you're here." He said, waving her in.

"Thanks Ry…So, whose picture was it?" She queried. He blushed, and looked the other way pointedly.

"Alright, don't trust me." She sighed, wishing she could help. She looked around his room, which was huge, and every square inch of his walls were covered in musical posters. "Wow." She saw posters for musicals she knew, like 'Phantom of the Opera', 'Hairspray', and 'The Lion King'.

She also saw a lot of posters for musicals she had never heard of, like 'Avenue Q' and 'Les Misérables'. One poster caught her eyes. A handsome youth leaned over a beautiful girl with dark hair and eyes, his hand on her breast. The poster had the name 'Spring Awakening' on it in white letters in a bold red square.

"Oh...that's Jonathan Groff." He said, looking up at the picture she was indicating. "He plays Melchior in Spring Awakening. It's my favorite Broadway show currently."

Gabriella nodded. "And the girl?"

"Lea Michele. She's Wendla. She's been in a lot of other musicals though. She was Young Cosette in the original 'Les Mis' and she was Chava in 'Fiddler on the Roof'. She has an amazing voice."

Gabriella nodded. "So, do they like…you know?"

"Have sex?" He asked, amused at her question. "Well, you'll just have to see it." 

"Like I can afford to go to New York and buy Broadway tickets." She said as she reminded him that not everyone was as well off as he was.

"Then I'll take you one day. My treat." He smiled, then squirmed; sitting on a picture frame wasn't very comfortable.

Gabriella sat on the bed next to him. "Hey Ryan?" She asked suddenly, after they sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. "Is that one of your hats on the floor?" 

"Huh?" As Ryan leaned slightly forward to look, Gabriella gave him a shove, sending him toppling off the bed onto the floor with a painful sounding thud. She grabbed the photo he had been sitting on and flipped it over to stare at the face of…

"Chad Danforth!"

-------------------------------------

"Chad Danforth!"

Chad snapped out of her reverie to see a very frustrated Taylor looming over him.

"Holy _shit!_" He fell out of his chair in shock, gazing up at his ex as if he were staring at a dinosaur.

"Chad, I've been talking to you for the last 5 minutes!" She said impatiently, extending a hand to help him up. "What's the matter with you anyways? You were basically trying to kill Troy with your glares this morning, and now you're all spacey. And twitchy. What's the problem?" 

"I don't like him! I really don't! And I'm not defensive, and I have no idea what you're talking about! IseriouslyandtrulydonotlikeRyanEvansyou'reallinsaneandIhavenoid-eawhatyouwant from me." He said as he ran away.

Taylor just stared at him as if he had lost what little sanity he had owned in the first place, which he pretty much had. Those dreams he'd been having took a toll on his mental state. "Well, that made total sense. I know _exactly _what he was talking about." She shook her head exasperatedly. "And I wonder who it is he doesn't like?"

-------------------------------------

Zeke glared suspiciously at Sharpay and Troy, who were looking at a piece of paper and whispering excitedly. Zeke wasn't really one to get jealous, but he was pretty upset that Sharpay had led him on, and then completely forgot about him to hang out with Troy, the basketball boy.

_I'm a basketball guy too. _He thought enviously. _But then again, Sharpay's always been after Troy. Why are you so surprised? She was obviously just throwing me a bone to get me off her back. Or she was just using me to get my desserts. Whichever it is, it really hurts that's she's doing this to me. _

He sighed, shaking his head sadly. _Why do I even try anymore? I mean, I know I'm the optimist of the group, but there's only so much a baker can take. _He gazed mournfully at the girl he loved, before shoving his hand into his pockets and walking off towards the kitchens. _Maybe some baking can cheer me up. If that can't, I don't know what else will._

-------------------------------------

"So they'll be coming next Saturday?" Troy asked, once again.

And Sharpay rolled her eyes, once again. "For the last time, _yes, _they're coming next Saturday."

Troy scowled. "I just wanted to be sure. We can't afford any screw ups."

Sharpay nodded. "Sorry for losing my temper. You're right. But we've gone over this so many times we couldn't possibly get it wrong. Unless some unknown, evil force works against us, I think we're in the clear."

Troy nodded as well. "Yea, and I can't possibly see what force could be trying to work against us. We're a couple of matchmakers, not a team of super heroes."

Sharpay had the vision of Troy as a 'matchmaker' and burst out laughing. Troy gave her a confused look. "Sorry, but I just had a vision of you as a Jewish woman wearing a huge dress."

This only made Troy twice as confused as he was before. Sharpay shook her head. "Never mind. You won't get it unless you've seen 'Fiddler on the Roof'." Troy shook his head, ignored her comment about him as a woman- Chad was the gay one, not him. Though he could see how a dress would show off his figure…

Troy sat bolt upright, almost slapping himself. "I've been hanging out with Ryan too much." He said half angrily.

Sharpay snorted, not even bother questioning what he meant, and scribbled some figures on the paper. "So Troy…about this party that we're planning…"

-------------------------------------

Chad picked up the CD doubtfully, looking it over. He had decided that maybe if he started listening to musical soundtracks, he'd have more in common to talk about with Ryan. So he had gone to a CD store, and looked around the 'Musical Theater' section. The album of 'Hair' was the only one that had caught his eye- the man on the album had a fro, and Chad felt that if they had the same hairstyle, the music couldn't be that bad. Anyways, he had heard of 'Hair', apparently, the whole cast stripped in it. And anywhere hot girls were stripping- well, he guessed he'd have to change it to hot guys now- Chad Danforth was there. Well, maybe not actually there, since the musical was on the stage well before his birth, but at least he was picturing the naked girls- boys?- in his mind.

So he popped the disk into his CD player; he was a bit ashamed he didn't have an iPod yet- but his mother refused to buy him one, and Chad was saving up for a car, and he couldn't afford to spend a few hundred on an iPod. He began listening to the first song, but pulled his headphones off after only a minute.

"The dawning of the angel Aquarius? What's that supposed to mean?" He said, punching his pillow in frustration. He just didn't like musical theatre, it wasn't his thing. His only thing was sports, he was only good at basketball and baseball and anything with balls. His supposed maybe that affected his sexuality. He had no hidden talents like Troy or Zeke. What you saw was what you got.

_And Ryan probably doesn't even like what he sees. Why would he want me? _Chad said with a snort._ He doesn't want me. That's obvious. He barely talks to me at lunch, yet he's always chatting it away with Troy. And talking about Troy, why does he have to be so damn nosey? He's always badgering me about Ryan…he has no proof that I like Ryan!_ Chad knew it was no use arguing with himself, he knew he was hopelessly infatuated with the Evans twin. _Fine…so maybe I do like him a __**little**__ bit, but that proves nothing. I mean, Ryan would never date a guy like me, and it's probably just a passing crush. I mean, Ryan's the only gay guy I know, so isn't it obvious I'd be attracted to him out of sheer lack of choice? Anyways, I bet I'll lose interest in him after another week or so. I just hope Troy doesn't find out. If I know him, he'll be determined to get involved and set us up together, and I have enough problems without forcing him to back down._

Chad groaned, throwing the CD player onto his bed; not too hard though, in case it broke, then he wouldn't have any music. Chad Danforth needed music to live, it was his one way to escape out of reality into his more peaceful place. But lately, that one peaceful place was blocked off to him by several brick walls and Ryan Evans. He sighed; it was going to be a long summer.

-------------------------------------

"And he borrowed two dollars from me at the gas station…I don't want the two dollars back…Just him." Ryan sighed as he finished his long and agonizing tale of the car ride to Lava Springs with the unattainable Chad.

Gabriella nodded slowly, still absorbing the fact that it was Chad Danforth that Ryan Evans liked. She bit her lip, did Ryan know that Chad was gay? And if he didn't, should she tell him? She didn't like the idea of telling Chad's secrets for him, but it might cheer Ryan up, and perhaps make him brave enough to ask Chad out. She didn't know if Chad liked the blonde back, but still…it was quite possible. Especially seeing as he'd been acting very strange, more so when Ryan was around.

_Yes, it's very possible that Chad likes Ryan back…but I can't be sure. Maybe I should confront Chad, but would he tell me? I can't tell him that Ryan likes him in case he doesn't like Ryan back, and it would make things even more awkward between the two. But even if he does like Ryan back, I can't guarantee that he'd be brave enough to ask him out…Ugh!_ _Why is this decision so difficult? I think I should tell Ryan that Chad is gay, then confront Chad, but what if I mess everything up? _She sighed. So many choices, and only one solution.

She took a deep breath, the exhaled slowly. "Ryan…you do know Chad is gay, right?"

Ryan's head shot up. "What did you say?" he demanded in a harsh tone she had never heard from him before.

"I said…Chad's gay." She said cautiously, in case he reacted badly to this news.

His eyebrows slanted together as he glared at her; she quailed under his hot blue gaze. "Don't mess with my head Gabriella. It's bad enough that he's straight without you goading me like that."

She shook her head. "It's true, Ryan. He came out to me and Troy and Taylor a few months back. He's just not ready to tell the school yet."

Ryan's gaze softened considerably as he seemed to look out into a world she couldn't see, but that was right in front of her. "Thank you for telling me that, Gabriella. It must've been a hard decision for you…Could you please leave now? I have some…thinking to do."

Gabriella got up, winking at him as she left. "Sure…thinking." She said suggestively, noticing his blush at her words. _Boys…all they think about is sex. _She closed the door behind her, leaving Ryan to 'think'.

She chuckled, in good spirits after she was able to help her friend, but then her expression soured as she saw Sharpay and Troy together…again. Troy spent more time with Sharpay then he did with her nowadays…and it bothered her badly. Shooting them a glare, she turned up her nose, and went to the other building- Ryan had instructed her on how to get to her room. She burst into the room angrily, surprised to see Taylor already sitting there.

"Hey Taylor." She said smiling and sitting on her bed, she felt as if she hadn't talked to Taylor in ages, and she needed a friend to talk to right now.

"Hey Gabriella." She said, smiling up at her best friend. "What's up?" 

"Nothing really…Troy's hanging out with Sharpay a lot." She sulked, remembering why she was in such a bad mood. To her surprise, she saw Taylor nodding thoughtfully. Usually, Taylor always looked furious when she thought Sharpay was planning something.

"You know, I don't think she's trying to steal him this time. I think they're both up to something together…but I really think Sharpay's over Troy. She doesn't always come up to him like she used to."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Whatever, it's still irritating. And weird that they're spending so much time together."

Taylor shrugged. "And speaking of weird, Chad's been freaking me out lately. I only called his name and he basically shouted that he 'didn't like him' and he wasn't 'being defensive', though I hadn't even said anything about that. Then he muttered a line of gibberish and ran off. I don't know what's the matter with that boy's head."

Gabriella was careful not to let any emotion show on her face. "I'm not sure…boy trouble maybe?" She said slowly. Taylor had given her a lot to think about next time she had free time.

Taylor nodded. "I guess that could be it…it's still weird to think of Chad as being gay. I wonder if it was my fault that he went over to play for the other team?"

Gabriella shook her head. "Don't worry Taylor, you're very attractive. Chad doesn't know what he's missing. Just because you don't have extra equipment." She teased her best friend.

Taylor laughed. "I guess…seriously, I swear all the hot guys are going to the dark side." Taylor joked. "Except for Troy!" She said, noticing the horrified look on Gabriella's face.

Gabriella laughed. "Whatever. I have to unpack." She shook her head, thinking about what she could do for Ryan and Chad.

**A/N pt 2. : **Voila. Next update you shall see what Troy and Sharpay's plan is, and the force that shall oppose them…ignorantly. But yes, it'll be interesting to write. Anyways, it's harder to update so much now that school is back for the week, so apologies for the pause between updates. I'll try to do at least one chapter every two days…But sorry for this pathetically short chapter.


	8. Totally Fucked

**A/N: **Ah, so much schoolwork nowadays. I can't imagine how hard it'll be next year. And I barely get any times to write this, and when I do, I have writer's block from exhaustion. So excuse what'll probably be a bad chapter…I just needed to get it done. It's probably not that well thought out though.

Poppyfields13- Jonathan Groff is currently my favorite actor on Broadway…He's in Spring Awakening (Which is amazing, and it won 8 Tony's) and was in the 40th anniversary concert of Hair.

StillThereForMe- Sadly, Troy will not be gay in this fanfiction…it'll be Troyella. Maybe in my next fiction? I just really like Chyan, and I don't want Troy to be alone? But I don't like him with Ryan or Chad…and I don't like OC's much…

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment. The title of this story also does not belong to me, but to Rent.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter Eight

Chad glared at his sandwich as he sat in the dining room. As he now had the privileges of a member of the club, he didn't have to eat in that hot, sticky kitchen he worked in anymore. That was a relief, since the heat often bothered him, though he was no stranger to sweating. But it did tend to give him a headache, which was the last thing he needed right now.

But then, he missed the privacy of the kitchens, where only his closest friends where around him. Here he was under the eye of all the rich families eating at the country club, and he felt so out of place in his waiter's uniform and apron.

But if he ate in the kitchen, no doubt all of his friends who weren't on break right know would be questioning him, asking him why he was eating there. Or even if they didn't interrogate him, they'd talk to him anyways. And he needed to think about things in peace and quiet.

He couldn't believe he had blown up at Taylor like that the day before. Really, he had practically freaked out just because she approached him. He realized later she never said anything about him liking Ryan. But nowadays, with Troy interrogating him all the time, and with working with Ryan's family and his friends all around, he was always on edge, always so high strung and nervous.

He groaned. On top of all these other problems, he had 'Hair' stuck in his head. He had ended up listening to the CD after all, for lack of anything better to do, except think of Ryan Evans (Chad really needed a new hobby). So he had listened to the musical, and his favorite song was the song that gave the music its name, 'Hair'. He needed to get it out of his head.

He quickly looked around to make sure that none of the basketball team was around, before singing a quick verse- just to relieve the pressure of the song on his head.

"Gimme a head with hair. Long beautiful hair." He said softly. He then jumped as an unexpected voice joined his to continue the song.

"Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen." Ryan Evans said, grinning, as he sat down across from Chad. "I guess you have more right to sing that song then I do." He noted as he smiled at Chad from across the table.

"Huh?" Ask Chad, not even blushing at the fact that he had been caught singing. He was too dumbstruck at the sudden appearance of the boy of his dreams.

"Well, you have more right to sing it because of this." He said, reaching over the table to pull on a lock of Chad's hair. "The whole point of the song is the fact that the guys have long hair, right?"

"What-oh yea!" Chad stammered out, strangely thrilled yet weirded out by the fact that Ryan Evans had just tugged on his hair. He could imagine Ryan tugging on his hair fiercely as they pursued…other activities. He quickly shook his head, blushing furiously.

Ryan noticed the blush, and shook his head, completely misunderstanding it. "I'm sorry to interrupt your singing…but you're not bad, actually. You've got a nice voice. You should join the musical next year."

Chad pulled a face. "Nah…I don't like musicals much. I was only singing 'because I had that song stuck in my head…I guess 'Hair' is the only musical I kinda like. Maybe I'd try out if it was 'Hair', but I definitely won't try out for anything else."

Ryan grinned. "Well, how do you know what musicals you like? I bet you haven't listened to all of them. I think you'd like 'RENT' and 'Spring Awakening' if you liked Hair. But they wouldn't let us do 'Hair' anyways, I mean, the whole cast couldn't exactly get naked on stage,"

Chad had a sudden vision of Ryan naked on stage, and turned a deep red, so much that Ryan thought his friend was choking. "Um, Chad, are you ok?" He asked nervously, standing up in case he had to save his friend's life.

"F-f-fine." Chad managed to choke out. "I just…er…it's nothing."

Ryan frowned, about to sit back down when a cry called from the other side of the room. "Ducky! Come, your father's just come home from his business meeting!"

Ryan sighed, not showing a trace of embarrassment at his nickname. "I guess I'll see you later Chad." He muttered before walking over to his mother. Chad's eyes didn't leave the blonde; they followed his as he walked across the room, hungrily taking in each stride, each movement of his hips. He thought of all the things he could do with those legs if they were in his possession in a solitary room.

"He's very good looking, isn't he?" A voice in his mind said.

"Yea…he is." He muttered out loud.

"Well there you go! So ask him out already!"

Chad literally jumped a foot in the air, and turned around. The 'voice in his mind' turned out to be a smirking Gabriella, who looked extremely pleased with himself.

"Gabriella!" Chad said, clearly startled, mortified, and distressed. "Why did you have to do that?! I don't like him!"

"Sure." She rolled her eyes. "Chad, just admit it. It'll make things easier for everyone, especially for you…and maybe even Ryan?" She implied, raising an eyebrow.

"No…he doesn't like me back." Chad shook his head sadly, looking like a lost puppy. "Gabriella, just leave it." He got up to go to his room.

"Fine…if that's what you want, I'll play along…but you can't deny you don't think about him."

She didn't know just how right she was.

-------------------------------------

Chad was walking down the hallway to his room when he crashed into a boy. He spun and fell over, but was caught before he hit the floor by a set of pale, skinny, yet surprisingly strong arms. He looked up, and his brown eyes caught the bright blue eyes of Ryan Evans.

"You alright?" Ryan asked as he set Chad back onto his own two feet.

"Yea…fine. Thanks for catching me." Chad muttered, wanting to evaporate. He just made a complete fool of himself in front of the one boy he wanted to be suave around. Yes, Chad knew what the word 'suave' meant. He was quite impressed with himself for that.

"Um, Chad? Can I ask you a question?" Ryan asked quite hesitantly.

"Huh? Oh yea, sure. Shoot." Chad said generously, trying to regain what little sanity he possessed.

Ryan opened his mouth, then closed it and turned his head to the side, as if he couldn't bring himself to mouth it. So instead he asked, quickly, "Are you, like, troubled? Because I've noticed you seem kind of…down lately. Is there anything I can do you help?"

Chad bit his lip. He didn't know whether to lie, to confess to Ryan his feelings, or to just jump Ryan right there and have his way with him in the hallway. He went with the first. "No, I'm just tired, that's all. It's nothing serious."

Ryan nodded. They were silent for a while then both opened their mouths to speak.

"Are-"

"That's-"

They both shut up, and then started talking together.

"You go first-"

"No, I couldn't possibly-"

"Yes, now speak-"

"But-"

"You-"

Finally, Chad had the sense, and the courage, to place two of his fingers on Ryan's lips. And while he wanted the boy to be quiet, he couldn't help but notice how soft his lips were, nor how pink and sensitive they seemed. He wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips…

He shook his head clear of all of…those…thoughts, and focused on what he had been intending to do. "Now Ryan, this is getting us nowhere. So, why don't you talk first?"

The boy nodded. "Alright…Chad, I was wondering if you were going to the concert of 'Spring Awakening' they were putting on today at our club's theatre. I don't know how or why, but someone from the club arranged for them to perform on tour here, and I was wondering if you were interested, seeing as you liked 'Hair' and all…"

Chad looked thoughtful for a moment- which was a big deal for him. He rarely thought enough for the expression to actually appear on his face. "Well, I might." He said, seriously considering it. 

Ryan smiled tentatively at Chad. "I hope you do come…maybe it'll 'Awaken' your love for musicals." He laughed slightly. Chad, of course, didn't get the pun, but then again, it wasn't a very good one. "But…if you do come, I'll see you there."

Chad nodded. "Well…maybe." He conceded. "Anyways, I have to go get some…sleep." He invented randomly. "Maybe I'll feel less tired after a nap or something…Later Ry."

Ryan watched Chad as he left. "Since when did he start calling me Ry?"

-------------------------------------

Troy and Sharpay fretted, getting the last threads of their first plan together. They severely hoped it would work, since they had put so much work into it. Also, if it didn't work, their two friends would remain unhappy and alone until they got another plan ready, and they weren't sure how long that would take. Of course, both were too conceited to think that their friends might get together without any help from them.

"So, we have to send this note to Ryan, right?" Troy asked. Sharpay nodded, distracted, and looked around.

"Have you talked to Chad yet?" She asked hurriedly as she searched for the card that they were going to give Ryan (though he wouldn't know it was from them).

"No. I figured I'd just ask Gabriella to talk to him for me, since he'll probably think I'm up to something. He's been acting as if I was up to something. He's awfully suspicious around me nowadays." Troy commented.

"Maybe because you _are_ up to something." Sharpay snapped, handing him the card, which she had finally found under some books. They were in the library, where they were sure Chad and Ryan wouldn't come looking for them in. Both of them hated books.

"Well, he doesn't know that." Troy protested, checking the card over to make sure it was ready for delivery.

"Maybe he does. You're not exactly subtle, Troy." She explained, thoroughly exasperated and at her wits end. Getting this plan together was more straining then she had realized.

"Well, he'll never suspect you're in it, and he thinks I'm too stupid to do anything by myself." Troy explained, flipping the note into his back pocket. "So I'm going to go deliver this and then talk to Gabriella. Need me for anything?" He asked as he headed for the door.

Sharpay shook her head. "It's fine. I've got it covered," With a nod, he left the library, leaving Sharpay alone with a mound of books.

She sighed. "I really hope this works." She muttered.

-------------------------------------

Ryan was doing yoga when all of a sudden, he realized there was a piece of paper that had been slid in under his door. He hadn't noticed it coming in, so he supposed it could've been there for a while, but he picked it up, looking it over. Unfolding it, he read the messy handwriting on it.

_Hey Ryan. I'm going to the Spring Awakening concert. Do you want to meet me there?_

_-Chad._

Ryan grinned broadly as he finished reading. He put the note of his bedside table, for him to read once again before he went to bed. Chad Danforth wanted to spend time with _him_, Ryan Evans, the drama geek. His day couldn't possibly get any better.

If only he knew how it was going to turn out.

Feeling strangely refreshed, Ryan began doing his yoga with a new enthusiasm.

-------------------------------------

Gabriella knocked on Chad's bedroom door. She had just talked with Troy, and he had asked her if she could invite him to the "Spring Awakening' concert. He would've done it himself, he told her, but apparently he had business to take care of.

_Probably hanging out with Sharpay again_. She thought sadly. She couldn't help feeling slighted by her boyfriend, if he even was her boyfriend anymore. He sure didn't act like one. If an outsider had seen them all together, they probably would've thought Troy and Sharpay were together, and that Gabriella was just a lonely, sad girl.

_I don't begrudge their friendship…I just can't see why they spend every waking minute with each other, unless they have something __**more**__ then friendship. _She sighed, wiping away a stray tear that had made its way onto her cheek.

She waited patiently until the door swung open.

-------------------------------------

_Chad bit Ryan's lower lip hard enough to make a mark, though gentle enough to avoid drawing blood. He reveled in the moan that came from Ryan's mouth as he traced every inch of the blonde's body with his hands possessively. _

_Ryan through his head back and bucked forward, begging Chad to take him right there. Chad was about to comply when…_

**Knock!**

Chad swore ferociously as he bolted upright from his sleep. He looked down. "Fuck." He had obviously been enjoying that dream a little too much.

He dragged himself out of his bed, walking stiffly to the door. He opened it, making sure he only opened it far enough to allow his head to peek through, but closed enough that his lower body wasn't exposed.

"Gabriella?"

He looked at her in surprise. What did she want now?

"Yes?" He asked wearily.

"I was just…do you want to come to the concert?" She asked abruptly. Best to get this over with.

"Er…" He looked down at his pants. No change. "I'm not feeling that well. I don't think I'll go."

Gabriella persisted. "But your mother said you had to go and get a photo of Jonathan Groff…something about needing a photo for the inside of her fridge?"

Chad scowled. "I don't have to listen to my mother. And I do not need any more men inside my fridge!" He muttered under his breath, "My mother and her diets." Which only confused Gabriella even more.

"Well…Troy said you had to come. It was important." 

Chad turned red with anger at this. "Tell Troy I won't come. He's planning something, and I won't fall into his trap." With this he slammed the door shut in Gabriella's surprised face.

_He's best friends with Troy! Why would he think Troy was up to something? _Gabriella wondered. _Unless Troy's ignoring him too…I don't even know what's going on with my friends anymore! _She thought angrily.

She made her way to the library, where Troy her to meet him. She opened the door and entered, seeing her boyfriend leaning on a table, inspecting a book.

"Gabriella!" His head snapped up as he noticed her. "What did Chad say?"

"He says he won't come. And before you ask, yes, I threatened him with his mother. He said he felt ill and he wouldn't come." She stated tiredly. Then she noticed Sharpay lounging in the corner of the room. Anger flared up inside her heart, and she turned to leave. "I'll just leave you two alone then, since I failed at my task." She spat angrily, exiting before Troy could protest.

Troy made to go after Gabriella, but was cut off by Sharpay's loud gasp. "Troy…"

He realized the implications of what Gabriella just said, and turned, a look of equal horror on both their faces. "If Chad doesn't go…what's Ryan going to think?"

**A/N pt. 2: **Ooh, what's going to happen next? A critical part unfolds…there may be a lot of romance in the next chapter? I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen, though I have a vague idea.

This took a while; I kept on getting distracted and listening to Les Mis. Anyways, I'll try and update again by Friday? I might work on it tomorrow, but I have to go to a sports game, and I may have a lot of homework…so I'm not sure.

Anyways, I've decided I'm going to be Eponine for Halloween…does anyone have any suggestions for her costume? If anyone's seen the musical or has any ideas, please pm or put them in the review.

I'm thinking a cap, my hair in a braid, smudging my face with dirt, a ragged, ripped, filthy white dress, and really dirty cheap shoes? Anyways, suggestions are greatly appreciated, since I've never seen the musical, and I only have a vague idea what she looks like, from photos and such.


	9. There's a Fine, Fine Line

**A/N: **Ah, I'm starting this just after I posted Chapter Eight…Which is quite unusual on a weekday. But the first two reviews I got made me want to write more, they really do inspire me to write more…

Anyways, Poppyfields13 pointed out to me that I actually referred to Gabriella as 'himself'. I hit myself over the forehead when I saw that…my head feels like mush –laughs-. I should leave it like that…but Gabriella has enough stress in my story without an unwanted sex change…though perhaps Troy would pay more attention to her if she was a boy? Too bad he's straight in this fiction! Really, I think he's bi…

StillThereForMe- Thanks for all the help on the Eponine costume! So is the brown coat like a trench coat? That's a bit what it looks like in photos…and I can keep my hair down. It's so dark brown it'll be hard to make it look dirty though. But yea…Eponine is my favorite character. You said you were in a production of Les Mis. Was that like, a school production? And who were you?

Court- I'm not sure which musical I would go to if I could see any musical I wanted…If I could go to any one currently on Broadway, I'd either see Wicked, or Spring Awakening again. For ones that have closed, I'd love to see the original Les Mis, which is a hundred times better then the revival. Also, you asked for musical titles. My current favorites are Spring Awakening, Les Mis, Fiddler on the Roof, Wicked, Hair, Kiss Me Kate, Into the Woods, Avenue Q, and so many more. Those are a few to start on.

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment. The title of this story also does not belong to me, but to Rent.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter Nine

Ryan half watched the performance going on in the stage in front of him. He didn't see Chad anywhere in the crowd, and he had specially saved a seat for Chad right next to him. He was puzzled. Why would Chad have sent that note to him minutes before the performance, and then not just turn up? Ryan had actually thought Chad might be interested in 'Spring Awakening', since it was as full of angst as 'Hair' was, if not more.

But he guessed he had been made a fool of. _I guess Chad was not really interested in coming at all. Maybe he just wanted to play a joke on me…He definitely knows I'm gay, doesn't he? Maybe he just wanted to get my hopes up. I mean, it's probably totally obvious I like him…_Little did Ryan know, however obvious their crushes were to the rest of the gang, only he and Chad were completely oblivious to one another's feelings.

_Gabriella must've been wrong. Chad must've lied, or something. About being gay, and then just used that lie to break my heart…no wonder he's been avoiding me after the baseball game. But it was __**his **__idea to switch clothes in the locker room, not mine…I just don't understand it. _He sighed. _The reason doesn't matter…the fact is, Chad stood me up…and now…I don't know what to do._

Throughout the show, he tried to pay attention to the music, and not the ache in his chest. This was a bit ironic, since the musical was full of heartbreak and teenage problems. It even included a homosexual couple. These were the last things Ryan needed to think about in such drastic times.

_I suppose it could be worse…I mean, I could be watching Les Mis…or Hair…though I think as soon as I get out of this, I should go see the movie version of Hairspray to cheer me up. _He sighed. The show still had half an hour to run before it finished. He crossed his arms, for the first time in his life, impatient for a show to be over.

-------------------------------------

Chad washed his hands in the sink furiously after the activity he had just performed. He felt so dirty…not that he had never done _that_ before…but when he did it thinking of a guy, while thinking of Ryan, it felt so much filthier. Chad supposed he wasn't as alright with his homosexuality as he had originally thought. He looked down at himself. At least he had eased the problem that had aroused when Gabriella had come to his room.

_I guess I really do like Ryan. _He thought, running a hand through his hair helplessly. _But now…what to do about it? I'm guessing this isn't just a passing crush, or a brief term of insanity anymore. I wonder if he feels the same way about me? But then again, why would he? He's rich, and fashionable, and good at baseball, and handsome, and incredibly sexy… _He shook his head angrily, he was getting off track. _Should I confess? But what if he doesn't feel the same way back? I'll look like a total idiot. And I'd be stuck working for him for another month…I couldn't face him every day, but I couldn't possibly avoid him in his own house…club…thing._

He groaned. If he had known love would be this complicated, he would've stuck to pornography and stayed single for his life. This whole situation was ridiculous, clichéd, and completely crazy. _Maybe I should've gone to the concert…I might've liked it, and I would've gotten to spend a few hours with Ryan, right? Though at the time, time with Ryan was the __**last**__ thing I needed._

He shook his head. If he left now, he should be at the theatre in time to catch Ryan coming out. He made sure his pants were zipped and dashed out, wondering where on earth the theatre at Lava Springs was anyway. He got directions from a club member, and headed towards it at top speed. _Please let Ryan be there_. He prayed fervently. He didn't even know why he wanted to see Ryan so badly, but he just knew that avoiding the Evans twin wasn't the answer. In fact, it seemed to make his feelings stronger.

He got at the theatre just as people started exiting. He crossed his arms and leaned on the wall, trying to look cool in time for Ryan to come out. He didn't want to act too desperate. But he did want to spend some time with the blonde, and now was as good a time as any to start. _If he hasn't already left._

-------------------------------------

Ryan exited the theatre feeling thoroughly depressed. And the first thing he noticed as he left was that Chad Danforth was leaning on the wall. At first his heart left and sowed itself back together. And then he saw Chad's face. Chad didn't look the least bit remorseful, but looked calm and cool, and was grinning broadly. He was _happy_. And Ryan's heart shattered once again.

_He's happy. _Ryan thought in disgust. _He's not in the slightest bit upset that he missed the show after he told me he'd be here. He didn't come to apologize. He came to see my heartbroken expression as I realized this was all a set up. Well, I won't give him that satisfaction._ Ryan quickly used his acting skills to transform his look of sorrow into one of cold indifference. He gave Chad one cold, withering glance before turning his nose up and walking past the dark boy.

"Ryan-" Chad began, but Ryan raised his hand for silence.

"I don't want to hear it Chad. I know what you're thinking, and I don't need that right now. It disgusts me you'd be so…awful, to think something like that. Just, don't talk to me anymore." And he left, leaving in his wake a badly confused and hurt Chad Danforth, who looked on him, mouth slightly agape. His hair even seemed to droop.

_Serves him right. _Ryan thought coldly, his inner anguish starting to eat him up. He didn't hurry his pace, but he knew if he didn't get out of Chad's sight soon, he'd break down crying. He couldn't let Chad see how badly he'd affected him. _Just wait till you get to your room, Ryan. You can cry in there._

-------------------------------------

Chad looked badly confused for a few seconds. Then the nausea and hurt, the pain at Ryan's words settled in. For a second he wanted to be sick, all over the expensive floor he was standing on. But that might get him fired, so he held back that impulse.Then his brain started going into overdrive, thinking of all the possible reasons Ryan could have said those things. He finally reached a conclusion.

_Troy must have told him how I felt about him…and I knew it. Ryan doesn't like me back. And he can't be gay either. He must be disgusted that another guy, a guy like me, has feelings for him. So he hates me now…it makes perfect sense. He hates me for thinking those thoughts about him…about us._

He held back the tears, and ran off to find Troy. He wasn't sure what he was going to do to his friend, but he certainly wasn't going to give him his blessings. He finally found Troy in the library with Sharpay. _Sharpay. Ryan's twin. _The observation didn't really stick with him at the time; he was too caught up in his misery.

"Troy, how could you do that?" Chad asked in a cracked voice.

"Do what?" Troy asked, confused, sending Sharpay an alarmed look.

"Tell Ryan that I liked him." Chad explained, as if he were talking to a five year old. The tears were streaming silently down his face now; he just couldn't hold them back.

Troy paled slightly. "I never told him that." He said quietly.

"Bullshit." Chad spat. "He knows, and you're the only one that could've told him. I _told_ you not to interfere! Now he _hates_ me, Troy. He told me he was disgusted with me, and he never wanted to speak to me again. Well, you can just fuck off! Now everything between us is ruined. In tattered shreds." And he left, slamming the door behind him.

Troy and Sharpay exchanged guilty, horrified looks. "Shit."

-------------------------------------

Sharpay tentatively opened the door to her brother's room. She didn't bother knocking; she knew he wasn't doing anything that shouldn't be interrupted by her. She saw him on the bed, his head buried in the pillow. He looked as if he could be sleeping, but the pangs of sorrow that ran through their mental link told her that her brother was far to distressed to sleep.

"Hey Ry." She said softly, sitting next to him. He didn't bother answering her, so she patted him on the back, which was a bit awkward, since he was lying down. It worked, for he raised himself up, and clang to his sister, crying on her shoulder silently. She spoke soothing words to him, rubbing his back as if he were a small child. She contemplated telling him that it was her and Troy who had sent the letter, but remembered the conversation she had with Troy before she left the library.

-------------------------------------

_Sharpay stood up as Chad had left the room. "Shit." Both she and Troy uttered that word at the same time as they saw the grief stricken boy fleeing the room. At that time, Sharpay felt a huge rush of pain flow through her link with her twin. She almost doubled over at the feeling of anguish in her heart._

"_I have to go find Ryan." She gasped. Troy nodded._

"_And I have to speak to Chad and convince him I didn't tell Ryan that he liked him." Troy said, still looking stricken from his best friend's accusation._

_Sharpay looked at Troy nervously. "Should we tell them what we did?" She asked nervously. Troy thought a moment, then shook his head._

"_No. It'll still be awkward between them, and they'll just get furious at us, and they'll be too angry and distressed to do anything for themselves." He said finally._

_Sharpay looked guilty. "Then what do we do?" She asked, for the first time in her life, she was short of ideas._

_Troy sighed. "We'll just have to think of a way to get them back together, won't we?" He said softly, before dashing off to find his best friend. Sharpay groaned at the mess they had made, and went to find her twin._

-------------------------------------

"Ryan, what happened?" She asked softly, feigning ignorance.

"Chad…sent note…meet concert…up stood hehatesme doesn't prank love smirking…" Ryan said incoherently, but Sharpay understood it. That was the bonus of twin telepathy; you could make sense of anything you twin said.

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you Ry. Maybe it was a misunderstanding. Maybe you should go talk to him?" She asked hesitantly.

Ryan's head shot up, and he glared at her through bloodshot eyes. "I will never talk to him again." He spat out angrily. "Not after…that. Even if he was gay, he wouldn't fall for me. If he was gay, which I doubt, he'd fall for Troy, or something." He sighed. "Just leave Shar. I need alone time." He threw his hat off his head onto the floor, and pointed towards the door.

Sharpay almost wanted to cry herself, but restrained the urge. She gulped, nodded, and left, feeling guiltier then she ever had in her life. She only could pray Troy's talk with Chad was working better than this.

-------------------------------------

"Chad, open up your door!" Troy shouted, punching the wall next to the door in frustration. Once again, there was no reply to his fervent calls. He growled, and punched the wall once again. And once again, there was no change.

"Chad! I _swear_ I didn't tell Ryan _anything_." He protested furiously, slamming his palms against the door, hard. Suddenly, the lock on the door clicked, and the door opened a tiny bit. Then it swung open, and suddenly, before Troy could figure out what was happening, a fist caught him in the side of the jaw. He stumbled back a few paces, clutching the side of his face, that punch had really hurt. He saw the door about to shut again.

"Oh, no you don't." He muttered angrily, sticking his foot in the doorway so it didn't shut. He yanked the door open and ran inside the room, and spun around, to glare at an angry Chad, who had tear marks running down both cheeks, tangled hair, and balled up fists.

"You _ass_. That punch _hurt!_" Troy said, rubbing his jaw tenderly.

"You think you have any right to call me an ass?" Chad asked incredulously.

"I'm telling you, I didn't tell Ryan. Why won't you believe me?" Troy asked, frustrated.

"Bullshit. You've been interfering with me and Ryan ever since you were told I was gay." Chad said bitterly. Troy didn't respond, there was no way he could deny that charge. He was completely guilty. Chad finally spoke again, shooting a question at the boy. "If you didn't tell Ryan, how'd he find out?"

"No idea." Troy lied. "But I'm telling you Chad, I _didn't tell Ryan._"

Chad glared at him warily. "Whatever. He knows, he rejected me, and that's that."

Troy bit his lip. "Chad…maybe you should go talk to Ryan?" He asked cautiously.

Chad shook his head. "He never wants to talk to me again." He said softly. "Troy…just leave."

Troy nodded, backing away slowly. "Alright, I'll go…but Chad, I think you need to Ryan. It might not be what you think."

He exited, right before Chad's head flopped back onto his pillow. "I know I need to, but I just can't."

-------------------------------------

"It looks bad." Sharpay admitted, after she and Troy had swapped stories. "Thankfully, I have an idea that will work without cooperation from either of them. We made a mistake, taking for granted that either of them would go to the performance. But this we can do without either of those two idiots ruining it."

Troy rolled his eyes. "They are stubborn idiots." He admitted. "I can't believe Ryan would even think Chad would crush on me instead of him. But what's this idea, Sharpay?"

She smiled cunningly. "It's simple…we give Ryan a little note from Chad saying he only likes you as a friend, but he really loves Ryan."

Troy snorted. "Like that'll work. Firstly, Ryan most likely won't take the note seriously. And if he did, and he approached Chad, Chad would clearly have no idea what he was talking about. Which would make Ryan realize that Chad didn't write the note, and then he'd be hurt all over again, and would immediately suspect us."

Sharpay smiled. "Well, maybe with a regular note, that'd happen. But if we paid a plane to write it in the sky…Chad would know what was going on and Ryan couldn't possibly not take it seriously."

Troy's eyes widened. "Shar, you're a genius. But that's expensive." He argued.

"Which is exactly why I'm rich." Sharpay said impatiently. "Now come here, and help me write the note from Chad to Ryan."

Troy grinned. "Coming, Grand Plotter." He said teasingly, walking over to her as they began working on the letter.

**A/N pt. 2: **And that is chapter nine. I started this yesterday, and ended up finishing it today…my dad forced me to stop writing it last night. Apparently it was too late for me to be writing when I have this horrid cold.

I hate colds. They mangle my voice so I can't sing –sob-. I've taken to singing a lot of Les Mis. It's my new craze right now. I love singing Eponine's songs, like 'On My Own', 'A little Fall of Rain', and her solos in 'In My Life', 'One Day More', and 'A Heart Full of Love'. I only really sing one song sung by Cosette, which is 'A Castle on a Cloud'. I feel so bad for Eponine, and therefore, I dislike Cosette intensely. Sorry to Cosette fans, it's just the way I am. If Eponine was out of the picture, I'd like Cosette, but as it is…


	10. Without You

**A/N: **Wow…Chapter 10 already! I feel like the time has flown by…Anyways, still sick…it really stinks. I was singing 'A Little fall of Rain' and my voice kept cracking since my throat's so dry. I'm _trying_ to rest my voice, but when I'm listening to music, I just can't help but sing…it gets into my bloodstream, and I need to sing and dance.

And I've started up my art again, drawing little sketches here and there. Nothing too good, since I haven't drawn anything seriously in like, a year, but they're pretty cute little things. I'm drawing out the scene of 'Eponine's Errand' in 'Les Mis'.

StillThereForMe- I'm so jealous. I'd love to in any performance of Les Mis, but our school refuses to do it. They say it's too much work, even though we have a good drama program…I'd love to be Eponine though, but unless I was a senior at the time, I'd never get it. I'm not that talented, and there are way better people.

Court- I'd rather be on Broadway. While I have a love to write, performing just makes me so totally happy in every way. I spend all my time singing, and when I shouldn't be singing, I'm playing scenes in my head. I'm often in trouble at school for daydreaming about the latest musical I saw. My head's pretty much filled with musicals.

Anyways, sorry to all the people who wanted the last chapter to turn out happily. I just couldn't let that happen, because of dramatic tension. But I swear, it'll brighten up in the next few chapters. This'll be a pretty dramatic chapter. All those evil forces working against Chad and Ryan…Poor guys.

Also, for my next fiction, I was thinking of one pre HSM2, where Chad went out for the musical and fell for Ryan…I was going to do it for RENT, and then I read "Take Me, Baby, Or Leave Me" which is pretty much the exact thing I was going to do. (Not that same plot, just the idea of them being in RENT with Chad as Collins and Ryan as Angel.) So now I want to use the plot I have with another musical, so it doesn't seem like I'm plagiarizing…Any ideas? I know 'Spring Awakening' has a gay couple, but I don't think Chad could pull off being a German…

Standard Disclaimer: High School Musical and its characters belong to Disney. I do not own them, nor am I making any profit from this story. I am merely writing for my enjoyment. The title of this story also does not belong to me, but to Rent.

I Should Tell You…

Chapter Ten

Kelsi sighed as she shuffled her newly written music. It seemed as if all her time nowadays was spent writing new love songs for no reason except for her own pleasure. She had nothing to do anymore. Besides her job, which was only to play in the evenings, she was incredibly bored. Gabriella was too depressing to be around; she only talked about her problems with Troy, teared up, and then left after ten minutes. And Troy was always missing. Sharpay was gone too, she didn't even spare the time to boss Kelsi around anymore! Kelsi felt as if all her friends had gone missing, and that even her purpose as Sharpay's lackey had disappeared. Ryan was strangely depressed nowadays, and Kelsi didn't want to approach him in case she drove him into his depression more.

As she exited the room, she bumped into someone. Thinking it was a member, she began apologizing fervently, dropping to the ground and scrambling to pick up all the sheet of music she had dropped when she had knocked into the other person. Then, the next thing she knew, the boy she had bumped into was on the ground with her, bending down to help her pick up her papers. He handed them to her, and she looked up to see Jason.

"Jason!" She asked, surprised and delighted. Her crush on him had not abated during the summer, even though they had barely seen each other since she had accidentally taken his suitcase on the first day at Lava Springs. "I'm sorry! I thought you were a club member." She said, blushing at the fact that the first time they had seen each other in weeks was also the time to be a complete klutz.

"Hey Kelsi." Jason said, his face reddening slightly, he was quite a shy boy. For a basketball player, he was extremely gentle and kind. He was the one who always asked the teachers about their vacations (much to his friends' displeasure). He was also the one who had helped Kelsi out when she had received the game ball from Troy, and was unsure what to do with it. He had helped her make her first basket ever.

"It's been a while." Kelsi said, trying to get her brain out of park and into first gear, to try and say _something_ intelligent and witty…well, maybe not too intelligent. Jason was, after all, a basketball player on the Wildcats team.

"Yea." Jason smiled at Kelsi gently. "Want to go have lunch together, since we haven't had a good talk in ages? I was about to get lunch anyways, so it wouldn't be any trouble."

Kelsi nodded a bit too eagerly, but she couldn't help herself. "Yea, I'd love that- I mean, I am pretty hungry." She corrected herself, cursing herself for blushing.

Jason nodded. "Why don't we eat outside in the ballpark today. It's pretty outside, and I think Troy said that's were the rest of us are having lunch today."

Kelsi looked happy, but a bit confused. "Wait, Troy's going to be there? I thought he was all caught up with Sharpay nowadays."

"He is…but he says there's a good reason. And Sharpay is coming, but she seems nicer, so I guess that's alright…" Jason shrugged.

Kelsi bit her lip, she still held a grudge and some fear for the formidable Ice Princess, but her feelings for Jason overpowered these thoughts easily. "Alright, let's go."

-------------------------------------

"So this time it'll definitely work. We'll just have to bring the boys to the ballpark without telling them that the other will be there. They'll have no reason to refuse, and if they do, we'll drag them, alright?" Sharpay said cheerfully.

Troy nodded. "Yep. Even if I pull him kicking and screaming to the ballpark, we'll do it. And if they point blank refuse to come, make sure that they see the note from outside their windows."

Sharpay nodded. "Alright. I'll get Ryan, you get Chad." She instructed.

Troy rolled his eyes. "Obviously. Chad wouldn't go with you if you paid him." He muttered.

"Hey!" Sharpay sounded hurt. "I'm trying, I really am!"

"I know that." Troy said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "But I'm afraid you _are_ Ryan's twin, and he still is kind of ticked off about you trying to tear me away from them last year."

Sharpay sighed. "Whatever. That was in the past. You stuck with Gabriella, didn't you? Is she going to be at the lunch, by the way?"

Troy shook his head sadly. "She doesn't want to come. She says I haven't paid any attention to her this summer, and she won't just come trotting back to be every time I blow her off…If only I could tell her what we were doing…she'd understand then." He muttered.

Sharpay shook her head. "We can't tell people about Chad and Ryan's sexuality issues without their consent…I'm sorry though, Troy." She said, upset. "I know this is my fault."

He merely shook his head. "It's fine. Let's get this show on the road."

-------------------------------------

"Sharpay, I'm telling you I do _not_ want to go to this lunch." Ryan hissed at his sister, who was dragging him by the arm towards the ball park. Ryan did not want to be at the place where he and Chad had first really connected a year ago, when Ryan pitched and then convinced Chad to learn how to dance.

"Too bad. You're coming." She said simply, not leaving him any room to argue. "It isn't about what you want, Ryan. You just can't stay locked up in your room."

"Can too." He said sulking, but giving up. Sharpay could be as stubborn as a mule when she wanted to be, and he might as well save his breath. However, when they approached the group of their friends eating on the ground, he drew in a sharp intake of breath.

"That is _it_. I'm leaving. Right now." He said, shooting Sharpay a filthy look that clearly signaled the message of 'How could you bring me here when you knew he'd be here?'

"As am I." Chad said, standing up abruptly, about to walk away. But Troy grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the ground with a crash, which resulted in Chad accidentally sitting on several PB & J sandwiches, which resulted in stains all over his clothes.

"Ew! Troy! Look what you did!" Chad complained, inspecting the damage. Ryan glared at Troy; he couldn't help feeling envious at how often the basketball star got to touch Chad. Before Ryan could leave, Sharpay pulled him down as well.

"Neither of you will be leaving. Ignore each other if you wish, but you can't leave." Sharpay said lightly. The rest of them looked around in confusion; they had no idea of the 'Love Fiasco', as Troy and Sharpay had dubbed it.

Ryan shot her a furious glare, but complied, picking up a sandwich. Chad threw his sandwich down, just to contrast the blonde, and crossed his arms, feeling sick, nervous, and idiotic.

Ryan sighed. This was going to be the longest meal ever. Excluding the medieval feasts that tended to last several days. But still, they didn't have to worry about sexual tension at those things.

-------------------------------------

Gabriella glared at the baseball park, where her boyfriend should be having an enjoyable lunch, with his newest friend, Sharpay, who he seemed to place above everyone else nowadays. It didn't matter that he was dating Gabriella, or that Sharpay had tried to break them up several times. She was thinking these angry thoughts as she walked away from the ball park, when she noticed an airplane parked in a huge patch of grass on the gold course. She frowned, curious, and walked up to it.

"Hey little lady." A man with a huge mustache and pilot's goggles approached her, taking her by surprise.

"Oh, hello." Gabriella said, a bit flustered. Who was this man? She had never seen him before, but he seemed to be the pilot of the plane that was landed in front of them.

"That's my plane, if you were wondering." He said kindly. "Some little lady paid me to write a message in the sky for her special boy…or something. I was just looking for the lobby. I'd like to get a drink of water before I do this; it can take up to an hour."

"It's over there." Gabriella said, pointing in the direction of the Lava Springs lobby.

He nodded. "Thanks. By the way, feel free to check out the plane, if you want. Just try not to touch anything, in case you accidentally take off."

"Thanks." Gabriella said politely. Maybe she would take a peek inside the plane. She certainly didn't have anything better to do right now. She watched the pilot leave in the direction of the lobby, and hopped inside the plane. It was a small, old styled plane, nothing fancy. She could see the note typed up on a computer in a huge font, supposedly so the pilot couldn't mess it up while he was flying the plane.

She looked down at the bill for the plane, and whistled. Apparently, writing a message in the sky cost money. Then she looked down, and scowled. Sharpay had paid for this to be written. She ditched all guilty thoughts of invasion of privacy, and read the note.

_Troy, I really like you as a friend, but I need something more then friendship. I love…_

The note cut off to the next page, but Gabriella had seen enough. In a moment on insane rage, envy, and idiocy, she highlighted the words 'love' and replaced it with 'hate', not even bothering to look on the next page to see the name.

_That'll teach Sharpay Evans to mess with me and my boyfriend. _She thought cruelly as she left the plane. _If she thinks she can steal my man, she's dead wrong. _And thought Gabriella was supposed to be a genius, she didn't even stop to think that the sentence she had left didn't even make any sense. To like them as a friend, but to hate them as well sounded very contradictory. Unless the name in the second sentence was not the same name as the one in the first sentence…

-------------------------------------

The lunch had gone by in uncomfortable silence. Everyone had pretty much finished eating, but nobody wanted to get up, in case they disturbed the palpable tension in the circle of friends. No one said anything either. They all sat, their hair on the backs of their necks standing up, even if they had no idea what was going on. The awkwardness between Ryan and Chad was so obvious, no one needed to really know the reason why, they just knew something terrible had happened, and they shouldn't disturb the silent war between the two of them.

In fact, the only one of the group not affected by the strange silence was Zeke, who was staring at Sharpay with adoring eyes. He probably wouldn't have noticed if a civil war broke out in front of him, he only had eyes for her. But he didn't interrupt the silence, since he was in such total reverence for the girl sitting across from him. His jaw was even slightly hanging open, and if there hadn't been so much tension, no doubt someone would make a teasing remark about this. But as it was…

Troy opened his mouth to speak, then closed it slowly, unsure of what to say. Even Sharpay seemed on edge, for the first time in her life, she seemed unsure of what to do, unwilling to take the initiative. Chad was staring at his knees, and Ryan was staring at anything that didn't have a fro for hair.

_I just don't know what to say to him. _Chad thought, a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead. _What can I say? He told me not to ever talk to him. And he obviously isn't sorry about what he said. And he obviously hasn't changed his mind…I don't know how much longer I can stand this silence…I might snap any second, and just go mental. Things might be a lot easier if I did that._

He looked up nervously at Ryan, and then dropped his gaze as if looking at Ryan was just like looking at the sun. You couldn't look at it without hurting yourself, without damaging your eyes. _He seems to radiate beauty. _Chad noted. _Beauty…and distress. And I'm the one who caused all that sadness that's so obvious in his appearance. _Chad couldn't take this anymore.

"Ryan!" He called out. Ryan's gaze snapped up to meet his, and they both flushed, but didn't look away. "Ryan, look, I'm really sorry." Ryan looked confused, then hurt, then indecisive.

As the blonde opened his mouth to speak, and as everyone leaned slightly forward to hear the words that would fall from the boy's pink lips, the roaring noise of a plane overhead drowned out his words.

-------------------------------------

The pilot, whose name was Eric, came back from the lobby after a longer period of time then he had originally planned. After getting his glass of water, he decided to have a snack at the lobby as well. Then he used the bathroom, since he couldn't very well go in the plane. Finally returning to his aircraft, he got into the small plane, and buckled his seatbelt.

He began to take off, already used to the roaring noise the plane made. It was noisier then most planes, being an older model, but after twenty years of flying it, a man got used to the sound.

After about ten minutes, the pilot checked his altitude, and decided he was high enough to begin writing the message. He checked his computer to look at the note. It looked exactly the same as when he had left the plane. He couldn't help but wonder if that nice girl who had helped him find the lobby had come to look inside the plane out of curiosity. She hadn't seemed too interested when he had given her permission to look inside. "Well, if she did come in, she left everything intact." He muttered to himself. He often talked to himself when he was flying the plane, it helped calm his nerves. Flying was exhilarating, but there was always the little bit of nervousness for each flight.

"Alright, let's get this over with." He muttered, beginning to write out the letters of the first word in the sky.

_Troy…_

**A/N pt. 2: **And that, my friends, is the end of chapter ten. I love cliffhangers…I really shouldn't torture you all by withholding my knowledge…but still…

Anyways, I've put the first chapter of this on If anyone is a good artist and wants to draw a scene from this fiction, I'd really love to see one. I'd try, but I'm not really that good at drawing humans, except in anime form, but they still aren't that good…like, something a 10 year old would draw…

I'm better at drawing animals and such…But I'm still doing like, a chibi Eponine scene? It makes no sense to me either…sometimes I'm not sure what I'm doing –laugh-. I'm completely hopeless. I have no idea what I am going to do with my life. Except for acting and such. But that's difficult…I really need a Plan B…

But enough of that! Any reviews would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to give me advice, or any plot ideas…And I think tomorrow I'm going to start my next fiction as well. It'll be Chyan, but more angsty, and set within a shorter time span. I'm not sure if I should make it Troypay or Taypay…Any advice on that would be appreciated too.

Until next time, everyone!


	11. One Day More

**A/N: **I feel so artistic…between musical theatre, writing this, and drawing my sketches of Les Mis scenes, I feel all I need to do is sculpt something at the same time to be doing all forms of art at once. –Laughs-. It's quite a handful, every five minutes; I'll write part of this story, then leave for my Eponine drawing, which is coming alone nicely. It's a lot better then I thought it would be. I'm coloring it as I write. If anyone wants me to show it to them when I'm finished and I get it scanned, I'd be happy to comply.

Poppyfields13: I updated soon, as you wished! –Hides from the chainsaw. - As for how Gabriella could do that, she's pretty much the evil force I mentioned earlier. Not that her intent is exactly evil, just her deeds.

But cliffhangers are fun…I love reading reviews after I leave a cliffhanger. –Grins wickedly-. Am I wicked? If so, I guess no one will mourn me…

And there I go again, with my ridiculous and senseless connections to anything performed on a stage. –Shakes head sadly-. I'm so hopeless.

**I Should Tell You**

**  
**Chapter Eleven

The circle of friends stared up at the sky; every head (Except Zeke's, who was still focused on Sharpay) was tilted back, their eyes hungrily following the plane with growing curiosity. The note that was being written in the sky obviously concerned one of them, seeing as the mysteriously person who had paid for this had made the first word the name of the Wildcat basketball star sitting in the middle of them.

Troy and Sharpay looked as the plane flew; tracing it's every movement, some weird emotion glowing in their eyes. Was it triumph, satisfaction, or anticipation? Perhaps it was all of these things, or none of them. Perhaps it was just pure relief that the moment they had been planning for weeks was finally about to pass.

Chad watched the plane with growing suspicious. He knew Troy had been up to something, and he had no doubt that this plane was the final product of the plot that Troy had been working on all summer to get Chad and Ryan together. One look at his friend's face confirmed his suspicions; Troy didn't even seem curious, just expectant. Never had Chad thought that his best friends plan would result in such a message.

_How on earth did he pay for that, anyway? _Chad wondered nervously, as he tried to swallow the nausea rising up in him as the anticipation and nervousness of the moment swelled over him in strong waves. He looked around the circle, and his dark eyes landed on another face with the exact same expression as Troy's. _Sharpay. I might've known. So __**that's**__ why he's been spending so much time with the Ice Princess. They were plotting. I wonder, why does Sharpay want me to get together with Ryan? She __**hates **__me, and Ryan clearly doesn't like me back. Maybe this is a way of punishing Ryan for spending more time with the Wildcats then her over the last few months._

Ryan looked up at the sky with mild interest. He had no notion that the note might apply to him, since the subject of its current sentence was the boy sitting across the circle from him. In truth, he was having a little bit of trouble reading what the note said, though he'd never admit it. Ryan was not a good reader. It didn't mean he was an idiot, he just was dyslexic. He remembered his embarrassment two years ago, when he couldn't read the message from the basketball team that said, "GO DRAMA CLUB!" They had even spelled it out for him, (literally, with Troy shouting out the exclamation point), and he couldn't understand it. But perhaps that had more to do with the fact there were eleven guys ripping off their jackets in front of him, including Chad, then it had to do with his dyslexia.

Chad, too, was remembering the past. If this was what he thought it was, and the two plotters were trying to hook him up with an Evans, he wanted to remember the first time he had fallen for Ryan. _I mean, I didn't really even notice him until last summer. _But that wasn't completely true. Even before that, when Gabriella and Troy had auditioned for the musical, he had paid attention to the blonde boy without even really knowing why.

_Like the time you read Troy's name on the callback list. You didn't stare at Sharpay in confusion, even though she was the main threat at that point. You looked at Ryan first, didn't you? For several seconds you stared at him, and then you looked at Sharpay quickly and left. And what about the time the team painted "GO DRAMA CLUB!" on our shirts? It was you who volunteered to go get Ryan and Sharpay to come and read it. You pulled to blonde boy over there, didn't you? And when you left the room, you made sure to be the first to leave, before Ryan could get out of the doorway, so your shoulder could brush against his, right? So why did I never notice it before? _Chad supposed the feelings of chaos at his best friend joining a musical had distracted him from noticing the weird feelings he had for the Drama King, which were later reawakened when he played baseball with Ryan, and they became friends. He had felt the spark between them. Maybe that was the reason he had tried avoiding Ryan all school year.

The plane finally finished writing the words, and there was a sharp intake of breath. Chad snapped out of his reverie, and looked around. Troy and Sharpay looked as if they were about to be sick. Ryan looked frozen, so rigid that he could be a statue. Chad, with a feeling of growing apprehension, looked up at the letters in the sky.

_Troy, I really like you as a friend, but I need something more then friendship. I hate Ryan._

_-Chad_

"Fuck…" Chad breathed out slowly, not drawing to tear his gaze away from the note to look at anyone. He couldn't face anyone right now, especially not Ryan. He closed his eyes, swallowing nervously. _Like things weren't bad enough already. Let this be a dream, please. Please, someone pinch me. Right now. _He opened his eyes. The letters were still hanging there, like ominous words of doom. Shuddering, he drew his gaze back down to earth, all hopes of redemption with Ryan crashing back down with him.

-------------------------------------

Gabriella, who was standing by the pool in her swimsuit, looked strangely satisfied with herself. She was so sure she had foiled Sharpay's attempts to steal Troy, and it felt good to get the blonde girl back for all the pain she had caused Gabriella. Pleased with what had passed, Gabriella began humming 'You Are the Music in Me', the song Kelsi had written for her and Troy last year. It felt so good to know that after Troy saw that note, he'd probably come running back to Gabriella, or swimming back, it all depended if she was on lifeguard duty or not.

Suddenly, she noticed children in the pool pointing towards the sky. She smiled wickedly. _I guess the note must have been written. _She looked up in the clouds expectantly, and when she saw what was written, she gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth.

_Oh no. Oh no. This is not happening. _She thought fervently. But it was. _What have I done? I totally messed up Chad's chances with Ryan! But…why did Sharpay pay for a note that Chad had written…unless, she wanted her brother to get together with Chad badly enough to pay for that? _She shook her head, it was all too much. _I need to go find them and find out what happened. And explain what I did. _She found a replacement lifeguard hanging about, and dashed off, clad only in her red swimsuit, to the ball park.

-------------------------------------

As Chad's dark gaze met Ryan's light blue one, Chad flinched visibly. He saw only coldness in Ryan's eyes. Cold calculation, scanning Chad down until he was sure that Ryan could see into his very soul. And Chad waited as Ryan judged him, until the little jury in Ryan's brain came to a vote. And the decision was unanimous by all accounts. Chad was guilty, and the punishment? The cold, silent, non existent treatment.

Ryan stood up abruptly, without a word, and walked away from the group. "Ryan! Come back!" Sharpay yelled after him, a bit afraid, she had never seen her brother so furious before, but he ignored he words, walking away at a slow, steady pace, until he was out of sight. And once was gone, the rest of the group broke out into whispers, accusations, and confusion.

"Quiet!" Troy said, and everyone complied. The only one who hadn't moved was Chad, who was staring silently at the ground. He was expressionless, and Troy wished his best friend would do something, say something. He could even punch Troy again, if it meant he would show any emotion. This dead silence was scary.

"What did you guys do?" Chad asked quietly, but his voiced carried to everyone in the group.

Troy opened his mouth. He was going to tell Chad the truth about everything. Hiding it only made the situation worse every time.

And then, before he could speak, Gabriella came rushing in, wearing only a swimsuit.

-------------------------------------

Chad looked up in surprise as Gabriella came running to them. She threw herself into Troy's arms, and began crying. "I'm sorry!" She sobbed. "It's my fault. But I didn't know the note was for _Ryan_. I thought it was from Sharpay to you." And she explained everything, how she felt ignored, and how she had changed the words in the note.

As Chad listened to her, his anger mounted. _What does she have to cry about? _He thought savagely. _It isn't her life that was just destroyed because of some jealous girl. Shit, what am I supposed to do now? Ryan's going to hate me forever…_

Troy and Sharpay exchanged glances. "Gabriella, there's nothing between me and Troy." Sharpay said gently. "We just spent a lot of time together because…well…of those two." She said, indicating Chad. "We wanted to find a way to get them together, that's all."

Gabriella nodded. "I realize that now…It's just that…" She bit her lip, not daring to say what she had thought.

Troy took her face gently and kissed her, softly, on the lips. "Gabriella, I'm always true to you." He said softly.

She nodded. "I love you Troy…"

Troy nodded. "But right now, we should worry about Chad and Ryan." He looked at his best friend. "Chad, there's something you should know."

And he and Sharpay told Chad every detail of what they had done, from Ryan's crush on Chad, to their first meeting in an abandoned classroom to their writing the note for the plane. Gabriella told about how she had switched the words in the note. Chad listened to everything with a growing feeling of doom. After the three had finished, he got up, and ran back to the Lava Springs hotel. He had to find Ryan.

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Ryan sat in his room sulking. Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. He ignored it. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. The knocked persisted, his bangs on the door increasing in volume until the really irritated Ryan. "Go away!" He yelled. Then there was silence, followed by a _smash._

The next thing he knew, the door was smashed open, to reveal an angry Chad, who was panting. He slammed the door, locking it with a chair under the doorknob, since the lock had been broken. He looked like an angry elephant about to charge. They stared at each other for a minute, before Chad picked Ryan up and smashed him against the wall, hard. Ryan hissed at the pain, looking down at Chad.

"That," Chad snarled "Is for being gay." 

He tossed Ryan down to the carpeted floor with some force.

"That," He hissed, "Is for having a crush on me."

"And this," Chad continued, "Is for never telling me about it."

And the next thing Ryan knew, he was on the carpet with Chad on top of him, forcefully pressing his mouth against the blonde's in a ferocious kiss.

**A/N pt. 2: **Sorry for the short chapter, but I didn't feel like going any farther with this chapter. Also, I need to write my history essay before this afternoon, and this kept getting me distracted, so I needed to finish it before I could finish my essay. I'm too easily distracted. It'll all unfold in the next chapter, with some slash too. I'm a bit unsure how to write it, it'll be my first slash scene, so I'm a bit nervous. I've read it, but never wrote it.

I'll also be starting my second story later this afternoon, if any of you want to read it.

I finally finished my Eponine drawing! I like the way it turned out, but I almost messed it up so many times. It was my first time using oil pastels, and I was unsure of how to work them. All my art supplies have disappeared. But it's still a lot better then I had expected it to be.


	12. So With A Thousand Sweet Kisses

**A/N: **Here is the slash you have all been waiting for! And well…if you haven't been waiting for it, here it is anyway! And if you don't want to read slash, I suggest you skip this chapter? Or cover your eyes when it isn't dialogue.

Poppyfields13: I'm glad you would mourn me, even if I am wicked. Sort of…And I updated this as quickly as possible so you can read some of the slash before you go away!

And about Ryan not being able to read "Go Drama Club", isn't it weird that he can read the Call Back list perfectly? Because he reads it out loud, so obviously he can read…How can he spell "Auditions" but not "Drama"? Tsk tsk, careless Disney.

**I Should Tell You**

Chapter 12

_Flashback to Chapter Eleven_

_The next thing he knew, the door was smashed open, to reveal an angry Chad, who was panting. He slammed the door, locking it with a chair under the doorknob, since the lock had been broken. He looked like an angry elephant about to charge. They stared at each other for a minute, before Chad picked Ryan up and smashed him against the wall, hard. Ryan hissed at the pain, looking down at Chad._

"_That," Chad snarled "Is for being gay."  
_

_He tossed Ryan down to the carpeted floor with some force. _

_  
"That," He hissed, "Is for having a crush on me."_

"_And this," Chad continued, "Is for never telling me about it."_

_And the next thing Ryan knew, he was on the carpet with Chad on top of him, forcefully pressing his mouth against the blonde's in a ferocious kiss._

Slashslashslashslashslashslashslash

Ryan gasped as the darker boy's mouth covered his own. What was going on? Had he fainted when Chad slammed him against the wall? Was this all a dream brought on by lack of consciousness? But the feelings were more real than any dream Ryan had ever had about Chad before; and believe me, he'd had a lot of dreams about Chad.

And of course, Ryan couldn't pull away from the kiss to question Chad about what the hell was going on, because he was pinned under the bigger boy. But once Chad deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding into Ryan's mouth, and his hands pushing up and under Ryan's shirt to explore the pale boy's torso, Ryan wasn't sure if he ever wanted to break the kiss.

But finally, it was Chad who pulled away from the kiss, so they could both breathe. It wouldn't be a very good first kiss if one of them died of suffocation. But instead of continuing the activity once they'd regained their breath, Chad just stared down at Ryan. His lips were now red and swollen, and he squirmed uncomfortably- Chad's hands were still on his chest.

"What was that about, Chad?" Ryan winced.

Instead of answering that, Chad's mouth reclaimed Ryan's, and his hands got to work on pulling off Ryan's shirt, which he tossed to the floor. He then worked on his own shirt, almost ripping it in two in his attempts to get it off as quickly as possible. He then pulled Ryan close to him, so their bare torsos were touching. Ryan moaned, though Chad's mouth stifled that sound.

And their other clothes followed the way of their shirts, and soon both boys somehow ended up making love on the carpet of Ryan's room.

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Chad wrapped his arm around Ryan's chest, allowing the blonde to snuggle closer to him. They both sighed in satisfaction, neither one of them speaking, not wanting to disturb the comfortable silence that had settled over them like a blanket. They had moved up to Ryan's bed afterwards, and it was comforting, just lying here together.

Finally, it was Ryan who spoke first. "Do you want to tell me what that was all about?" He asked quietly. "I thought you loved Troy."

"Well, I just proved your theory wrong, didn't I?" Chad had gotten used to using the word theory after hanging out with Taylor so much. It was a favorite word of hers, since she was such a science lover and all.

"Then that note?" 

"Sharpay and Troy." 

"Ah." And that was all that needed to be said for Ryan to understand that his twin and Troy Bolton had been the two idiots behind those half wit ideas. "How'd they mix up love with hate?"

"Gabriella thought it was from Sharpay to Troy."

"Ah…I suppose the concert…?"

"I didn't give you that note."

"I see…" There was a moment of silence.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine." 

"I shouldn't have blamed you for that though. I should've known it would've been those two. I've met bread smarter then them."

Chad laughed softly, nibbling on Ryan's ear. "It's forgiven, alright?" Ryan nodded.

"So…what does this make us?" 

"Boyfriends, doesn't it?"

"If you want."

"What, don't you want to be boyfriends?"

"Of course I do! I've liked you longer, anyways." 

"Have not!" 

"Have so."

Chad rolled his eyes. "Fine, if you say so." He conceded, and kissed the mark he had left on Ryan's neck.

"Do you think we would've gotten together earlier if they hadn't interfered?"

"I guess…If they hadn't made you so angry at me, I'd never have come here to make it up to you."

This got a laugh from the smaller boy. "I suppose we have to thank them then." Chad merely nodded. And the two curled up to sleep on Ryan's bed, both dreaming of the one they were huddled next to.

**A/N pt. 2: **I know this was a really short chapter, but I wanted it to be purely Chyan. So there were no parts with the other characters. But next chapter will be much longer, so please don't mob me .


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